BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  AB 155
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          ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
          AB 155 (Alejo) 
          As Amended  May 29, 2013
          Majority vote 

           LABOR & EMPLOYMENT     5-0                                      
           
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          |Ayes:|Roger Hernández, Alejo,   |     |                          |
          |     |Chau, Gomez, Holden       |     |                          |
          |-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
          |     |                          |     |                          |
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           SUMMARY  :  Provides that a current or former employee has a right  
          to receive a copy of their payroll records.  Specifically,  this  
          bill  :  

          1)Provides that an employee shall elect to inspect or copy the  
            payroll records, or to receive a copy of the records, or any  
            combination thereof.

          2)Specifies that a former employee terminated for workplace  
            violence or harassment shall be entitled only to receive a  
            copy of the records.

          3)Provides that an employer may charge the current or former  
            employee the actual costs of production, as defined.

          4)Makes related legislative findings and declarations.

           FISCAL EFFECT :  Unknown.  This bill is keyed non-fiscal by the  
          Legislative Counsel.

           COMMENTS  :  According to the author, this bill "ensures that  
          employees have the right to receive a copy of their employment  
          records upon a reasonable request to his or her employer.  The  
          bill merely clarifies existing law under the Labor Code and  
          corrects a flawed court decision.  It is vitally important that  
          employees have access to their records for purposes of future  
          employment and for documenting a history of work in the United  
          States for immigration purposes."

          Labor Code (LC) Section 226 requires employers to provide  
          itemized wage statements and to maintain specified payroll  
          records.  In 1988, LC Section 226 was amended by SB 2155  








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          (Petris), Chapter 827, to change the pre-existing right of  
          workers to "inspect" their payroll records by recasting it as a  
          right to "inspect or copy."  SB 2155 also provided that if the  
          employer provides copies of the records, the actual cost of  
          reproduction may be charged to the current or former employee.

          According to the sponsor of this bill, the California Rural  
          Legal Assistance Foundation (CRLAF), for more than 20 years  
          California courts uniformly interpreted this statute to provide  
          for employee access to "copies" of payroll records.  However, in  
          late 2012, a Riverside County Superior Court held otherwise in  
          Esteban v. JSO, Inc. dba America's Labor Supply, Inc., Docket  
          No. INC-1104544.  In that case, the superior court stated,  
          "Plaintiff contends that this section obligates an employer to  
          make copies.  It does not.  The plain language of the section  
          obligates an employer to make records available for the employee  
          to inspect and copy?If the Legislature wanted to require an  
          employer to copy records on request, it could easily have said  
          so."

          According to CRLAF, this decision was "unjustifiable" in light  
          of the legislative history of SB 2155.  The context of the  
          passage of SB 2155 (which was an urgency statute) was to enable
          California workers to get copies of their records in order to  
          qualify for legalization under the 1986 Immigration Reform and  
          Control Act, which, among other things, required proof of prior  
          and current work history in the United States.  This purpose is  
          reflected in the legislative history of SB 2155, which is quoted  
          extensively in the legislative findings of this bill.  CRLAF  
          contends that the current proposed federal immigration  
          legislation underscores the need for the clarification proposed  
          by this bill.  A central tenet of these proposals is that  
          undocumented workers, in order to qualify, must be able to  
          "demonstrate a history of work in the United States, and current  
          employment, among other requirements..."

          Therefore, CRLAF states that the narrow purpose of this bill is  
          to eliminate confusion about the right of California workers to  
          inspect or receive a copy of their itemized wage statements upon  
          reasonable request to their current or former employer.

          A coalition of employer groups, including the California Chamber  
          of Commerce, opposes this bill because it "mandates that it is  
          within the employee's discretion as to whether the employee  
          receives a copy of his/her payroll records, inspects the payroll  








                                                                  AB 155
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          records on the employer's premises, or both."
             

          Analysis Prepared by  :    Ben Ebbink / L. & E. / (916) 319-2091 


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