BILL NUMBER: AB 155 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE FEBRUARY 20, 2014
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 29, 2013
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Alejo
JANUARY 22, 2013
An act to amend Section 226 of the Labor Code, relating
to employment. An act to add Section 87 to the
Monterey County Water Resources Agency Act (Chapter 1159 of the
Statutes of 1990), relating to water.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 155, as amended, Alejo. Employment: payroll records:
right to inspect. Monterey County Water Resources
Agency: Salinas River Management Program.
Existing law, the Monterey County Water Resources Agency Act,
establishes the Monterey County Water Resources Agency as a flood
control and water agency within the County of Monterey.
This bill would require the agency to establish a multiobjective,
multibenefit consensus-based comprehensive Salinas River Management
Program and would require the agency to establish a steering
committee to develop the program. By requiring the agency to
establish a new program, this bill would impose a state-mandated
local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates
determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state,
reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these
statutory provisions.
Existing law requires an employer to furnish each employee with an
accurate itemized statement showing, among other things, the gross
and net wages earned, the inclusive dates of the pay period, and all
deductions. Existing law requires the employer to keep on file a copy
of the statement for at least 3 years at a specified location.
Existing law affords current and former employees the right to
inspect or copy records pertaining to their employment, upon
reasonable request to the employer. Under existing law, if the
employer provides copies of the records, the employer is authorized
to charge any actual costs of reproduction of the employee's records
to the current or former employee.
This bill would require the employee to elect to inspect or copy,
or receive a copy of, or any combination thereof, his or her
employment records and would require the employer to comply with that
election. The bill would entitle a former employee terminated for
workplace violence or harassment only to receive a copy of the
records, without any charge by the employer. The bill would define
"actual cost of reproduction" to mean only the per page cost to the
employer for the physical duplication of the records. The bill would
also declare the Legislature's intent in this regard.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no
yes . State-mandated local program: no
yes .
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 87 is added to the
Monterey County Water Resources Agency Act (Chapter 1159
of the Statutes of 1990), to read:
87. (a) The Legislature hereby finds and declares all of the
following:
(1) The Salinas River watershed consists of 4,200 square miles of
land. Much of the watershed is prime agricultural and rangeland,
providing a strong base for the region's economy. Much of the land
within the watershed provides housing, employment, recreation, and
education opportunities for central coast residents and visitors from
throughout the state, nation, and world.
(2) The Salinas River watershed includes portions of the Counties
of Monterey and San Luis Obispo and each of those counties is
concerned about the ability of its communities to sustain a high
quality of life with regard to agriculture, housing, commerce,
education, and environmental protection.
(3) The Salinas River watershed includes numerous streams, creeks,
rivers, wetlands, and estuaries that form the natural drainage
system that directs rainwater to the ocean. The Salinas River
watershed also includes numerous manmade water collection, drainage,
and water disposal projects and systems that also direct rainwater to
the ocean.
(4) The Salinas River watershed includes millions of square feet
of impervious surfaces, such as roads, parking lots, homes,
commercial and agricultural structures, schools, and playgrounds, all
of which reduce the amount of natural groundwater recharge that
would otherwise be available to reduce rainwater runoff.
(5) The Salinas River watershed includes flood control structures
that were designed and constructed many years ago. Those flood
control structures are now proving to be inadequate to protect the
area's agricultural lands, commercial, residential, and public sector
buildings, and environmental resources.
(6) Recent floods along the Salinas River watershed have resulted
in significant physical and economic loss. The severe floods of 1995
damaged approximately 30,000 acres of agricultural land, resulted in
the permanent loss of 1,100 acres of prime farmland to erosion,
flood-related losses were estimated at two hundred forty million
dollars ($240,000,000), and virtually all the flood control levees
along the Salinas River were destroyed or severely damaged. In 1998,
flooding caused 50 roads and highways to be closed, with 29,000 acres
of farmland damaged, and created agricultural losses of over seven
million dollars ($7,000,000). In 2011, the reported agricultural
losses from flooding included approximately four million dollars
($4,000,000) in lost gross production value and approximately one
million five hundred thousand dollars ($1,500,000) in cleanup and
ranch repair.
(7) The Salinas River flows through and irrigates some of the
richest and most fertile agricultural lands in the state and even the
world. The crops grown here are shipped to almost every corner of
the globe. If a disastrous flood is to occur, the impact will be felt
worldwide and have serious consequences on our state and national
economy.
(8) The County of Monterey agriculture sector generates nearly
eight billion two hundred million dollars ($8,200,000,000) annually
and supports more than 73,000 jobs, including, but not limited to,
farm workers, packing house employees, truck drivers, and warehouse
personnel. According to a Department of Food and Agriculture report,
the County of Monterey is the fourth largest agricultural producing
county in the state representing almost 10 percent of the state's
annual agricultural production. The County of Monterey grows more
than 50 crops with an annual gross production of over one million
dollars ($1,000,000), including, but not limited to, strawberries,
lettuce, broccoli, celery, and wine grapes.
(9) There is a need for a local, intergovernmental, and
cooperative governance structure, with public-private partnership
involvement, for the Salinas River watershed in order to develop and
implement a systemic, rational, and cost-effective program of flood
control and watershed management.
(10) It is the intent of the Legislature, through the enactment of
this section, to enable the local governments and local residents of
the Salinas River watershed to exercise appropriate powers to ensure
that the human, economic, and environmental resources of the
watershed are preserved, protected, and enhanced in terms of
watershed management and flood protection.
(b) The agency shall establish a multiobjective, multibenefit
consensus-based comprehensive Salinas River Management Program. The
program shall address the long-term management of the Salinas River
to protect the unique environmental, cultural, and agricultural
resources within the Salinas Valley.
(c) The agency shall establish a steering committee that shall
develop the program. The steering committee shall include
representatives from all major interested parties, including, but not
limited to, landowners, regulatory agencies, environmental
organizations, the agency, and local governments, including, but not
limited to, the County of Monterey.
SEC. 2. If the Commission on State Mandates
determines that this act contains costs mandated by the state,
reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs
shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of
Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares
all of the following:
(a) In 1988, the Legislature passed, and the Governor signed into
law, Senate Bill 2155 that amended employees' preexisting statutory
right to inspect their itemized pay records under Section 226 of the
Labor Code and extended to them a new right to receive a copy of
these basic pay records upon reasonable request to their employer.
(b) Senate Bill 2155 was sponsored by California Rural Legal
Assistance, Inc., and was supported by the Alien Legalization Program
for Agriculture (whose membership included the California Farm
Bureau Federation and the Western Growers Association), the
California Labor Federation, and others. There was no opposition to
Senate Bill 2155, which passed by 37 "Aye" and no "No" votes in the
Senate and by 70 "Aye" and 1 "No" votes in the Assembly.
(c) According to the Senate Committee on Labor and Industrial
Relations March 1988 analysis of Senate Bill 2155, as introduced, the
bill's proponents contended that Senate Bill 2155 was "necessary to
ensure that workers have the right to obtain copies of their payroll
records, especially in the case of undocumented workers who are
applying for amnesty under the federal Immigration Reform and Control
Act of 1986 (IRCA)."
(d) The Senate Rules Committee's August 11, 1988, Senate Floor
Analysis (for final passage of the bill as amended in the Assembly)
stated: "This bill would permit current or former employees to copy
payroll deduction records that are maintained by the employer. ...
Employers would be empowered to charge former and current employees
for the actual costs of reproducing the records."
(e) The Department of Industrial Relations, in its August 26,
1988, Enrolled Bill Report recommending that the Governor sign the
bill, stated: "This bill would require an employer, who is mandated
by law to keep wage deduction records, to allow employees to inspect
and/or copy such records. The bill also] permits employers to
charge employees for the actual costs of reproducing the records."
(f) The Department of Finance, in its August 29, 1988, Bill
Analysis recommending that the Governor sign the bill, stated:
"Senate Bill] 2155 gives employees or former employees the right to
copy these records and allows the employer to take reasonable steps
to verify the identity of the employee and to charge for the
reproduction of the records."
(g) The author of the bill, Senator Nicolas C. Petris, in his
September 6, 1988, letter urging Governor Deukmejian to sign Senate
Bill 2155 into law, stated "Senate Bill 2155 clarifies current law by
spelling out that when employers are required to make basic pay
records 'available' to workers, that means they are required to
provide a copy, upon reasonable request."
(h) Despite more than 20 years of consistent interpretation of
these provisions of the Labor Code, the California Superior Court in
the County of Riverside determined, in Esteban v. JSO, Inc. d.b.a.
America's Labor Supply, Inc., Docket No. INC-1104544, that the Labor
Code provisions enacted by Senate Bill 2155 do not obligate an
employer to make copies: "If the Legislature wanted to require an
employer to copy records on request, it could easily have said so."
(i) The amendments made by this bill to provisions of Section 226
of the Labor Code enacted by Senate Bill 2155 are expressly intended
to overturn Esteban v. JSO, Inc., and are further intended to make
clear that these provisions afforded a current or former employee the
right to inspect or copy, or receive copies of, his or her payroll
records, or any combination thereof; that it was solely the employee,
and not the employer, who was authorized to make that election under
the statute; and that the amendments to these provisions made by
this bill are declaratory of existing law.
SEC. 2. Section 226 of the Labor Code is
amended to read:
226. (a) Every employer, semimonthly or at the time of each
payment of wages, shall furnish each of his or her employees, either
as a detachable part of the check, draft, or voucher paying the
employee's wages, or separately when wages are paid by personal check
or cash, an accurate itemized statement in writing showing all of
the following: (1) gross wages earned, (2) total hours worked by the
employee, except for any employee whose compensation is solely based
on a salary and who is exempt from payment of overtime under
subdivision (a) of Section 515 or any applicable order of the
Industrial Welfare Commission, (3) the number of piece-rate units
earned and any applicable piece rate if the employee is paid on a
piece-rate basis, (4) all deductions, provided that all deductions
made on written orders of the employee may be aggregated and shown as
one item, (5) net wages earned, (6) the inclusive dates of the
period for which the employee is paid, (7) the name of the employee
and only the last four digits of his or her social security number or
an employee identification number other than a social security
number, (8) the name and address of the legal entity that is the
employer and, if the employer is a farm labor contractor, as defined
in subdivision (b) of Section 1682, the name and address of the legal
entity that secured the services of the employer, and (9) all
applicable hourly rates in effect during the pay period and the
corresponding number of hours worked at each hourly rate by the
employee and, beginning July 1, 2013, if the employer is a temporary
services employer as defined in Section 201.3, the rate of pay and
the total hours worked for each temporary services assignment. The
deductions made from payment of wages shall be recorded in ink or
other indelible form, properly dated, showing the month, day, and
year, and a copy of the statement and the record of the deductions
shall be kept on file by the employer for at least three years at the
place of employment or at a central location within the State of
California. For purposes of this subdivision, "copy" includes a
duplicate of the itemized statement provided to an employee or a
computer-generated record that accurately shows all of the
information required by this subdivision.
(b) An employer that is required by this code or any regulation
adopted pursuant to this code to keep the information required by
subdivision (a) shall afford current and former employees the right
to inspect or copy records pertaining to their employment, upon
reasonable request to the employer, except that a former employee
terminated for workplace violence or harassment shall be entitled
only to receive a copy of the records, without any charge by the
employer. The employer may take reasonable steps to ensure the
identity of a current or former employee. In making a request under
this subdivision, an employee shall elect to inspect or copy the
records, or to receive a copy of the records, or any combination
thereof. If the employer provides copies of the records, the employer
may charge the actual cost of reproduction to the current or former
employee. For purposes of this subdivision, "actual cost of
production" means only the per page cost to the employer for the
physical duplication of the records.
(c) An employer who receives a written or oral request to inspect
or copy records, or to receive a copy of the records, or any
combination thereof, as specified by the employee pursuant to
subdivision (b) pertaining to a current or former employee shall
comply with the request as soon as practicable, but no later than 21
calendar days from the date of the request. A violation of this
subdivision is an infraction. Impossibility of performance, not
caused by or a result of a violation of law, shall be an affirmative
defense for an employer in any action alleging a violation of this
subdivision. An employer may designate the person to whom a request
under this subdivision will be made.
(d) This section does not apply to any employer of any person
employed by the owner or occupant of a residential dwelling whose
duties are incidental to the ownership, maintenance, or use of the
dwelling, including the care and supervision of children, or whose
duties are personal and not in the course of the trade, business,
profession, or occupation of the owner or occupant.
(e) (1) An employee suffering injury as a result of a knowing and
intentional failure by an employer to comply with subdivision (a) is
entitled to recover the greater of all actual damages or fifty
dollars ($50) for the initial pay period in which a violation occurs
and one hundred dollars ($100) per employee for each violation in a
subsequent pay period, not to exceed an aggregate penalty of four
thousand dollars ($4,000), and is entitled to an award of costs and
reasonable attorney's fees.
(2) (A) An employee is deemed to suffer injury for purposes of
this subdivision if the employer fails to provide a wage statement.
(B) An employee is deemed to suffer injury for purposes of this
subdivision if the employer fails to provide accurate and complete
information as required by any one or more of items (1) to (9),
inclusive, of subdivision (a) and the employee cannot promptly and
easily determine from the wage statement alone one or more of the
following:
(i) The amount of the gross wages or net wages paid to the
employee during the pay period or any of the other information
required to be provided on the itemized wage statement pursuant to
items (2) to (4), inclusive, (6), and (9) of subdivision (a).
(ii) Which deductions the employer made from gross wages to
determine the net wages paid to the employee during the pay period.
Nothing in this subdivision alters the ability of the employer to
aggregate deductions consistent with the requirements of item (4) of
subdivision (a).
(iii) The name and address of the employer and, if the employer is
a farm labor contractor, as defined in subdivision (b) of Section
1682, the name and address of the legal entity that secured the
services of the employer during the pay period.
(iv) The name of the employee and only the last four digits of his
or her social security number or an employee identification number
other than a social security number.
(C) For purposes of this paragraph, "promptly and easily determine"
means a reasonable person would be able to readily ascertain the
information without reference to other documents or information.
(3) For purposes of this subdivision, a "knowing and intentional
failure" does not include an isolated and unintentional payroll error
due to a clerical or inadvertent mistake. In reviewing for
compliance with this section, the factfinder may consider as a
relevant factor whether the employer, prior to an alleged violation,
has adopted and is in compliance with a set of policies, procedures,
and practices that fully comply with this section.
(f) A failure by an employer to permit a current or former
employee to inspect or copy records, or to receive a copy of the
records, or any combination thereof, as specified by the employee
pursuant to subdivision (b) within the time set forth in subdivision
(c) entitles the current or former employee or the Labor Commissioner
to recover a seven-hundred-fifty-dollar ($750) penalty from the
employer.
(g) The listing by an employer of the name and address of the
legal entity that secured the services of the employer in the
itemized statement required by subdivision (a) shall not create any
liability on the part of that legal entity.
(h) An employee may also bring an action for injunctive relief to
ensure compliance with this section, and is entitled to an award of
costs and reasonable attorney's fees.
(i) This section does not apply to the state, to any city, county,
city and county, district, or to any other governmental entity,
except that if the state or a city, county, city and county,
district, or other governmental entity furnishes its employees with a
check, draft, or voucher paying the employee's wages, the state or a
city, county, city and county, district, or other governmental
entity shall use no more than the last four digits of the employee's
social security number or shall use an employee identification number
other than the social security number on the itemized statement
provided with the check, draft, or voucher.