BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1336
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 15, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 1336 (Frazier) - As Amended: April 17, 2013
Policy Committee: Labor and
Employment Vote: 5-2
Judiciary 7-3
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill makes the following changes to statute governing
prevailing wage and joint-labor management committees (JLM
committees):
1)Extends the statute of limitations from 180 days to 24 months
(after the wages were due) during which time a JLM committee
can bring action to any court for an employer failing to pay a
prevailing wage, as specified.
2)Requires the court to award restitution to an employee for
unpaid wages, plus interest, from the date the wages became
due and payable, and liquidated damages equal to the amount of
unpaid wages owed. Further authorizes the court to impose
civil penalties, injunctive relief, or any other appropriate
equitable relief, and requires the court to award a JLM
committee its reasonable attorney's fees and costs incurred,
as specified.
3)Prohibits an action based on the employer's misclassification
of the craft of a worker in its certified payroll records.
Also, specifies there is no limit to other available remedies
for a violation of the law.
4)Requires any copy of certified payroll records made available
for inspection to a multiemployer Taft-Hartley trust fund,
which requests the records for the purpose of allocating
contributions to participants, to be marked or obliterated
only to prevent disclosure of an individual's full social
security number. The bill does, however, require the last
AB 1336
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four digits of the social security number to be provided.
5)Removes the requirement for a JLM committee, when making
available payroll records, to prevent disclosure of an
individual's name.
FISCAL EFFECT
Minimal fiscal impact to the Department of Industrial Relations
(DIR). DIR indicates their workload may decrease as a result of
the prohibition an action based on the misclassification of a
worker.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . A JLM committee, established under federal law, is a
panel comprised of union and management representatives to
investigate, study and discuss possible solutions to mutual
problems affecting labor-management relations.
According to the author, "Misclassification of workers on
public works projects is unfair to the employees and to the
taxpayers funding the projects. If workers are performing
skilled crafts that they are not properly trained and
qualified to do, the quality and safety of the project, as
well as the safety of other employees on the job site, may be
jeopardized.
"The bill extends the statute of limitations for filing a
lawsuit to two years, and allows employee names to be included
in the records provided to a joint labor-management committee,
to ensure that underpaid workers can be properly compensated.
AB 1336 will help to prevent the misclassification of workers,
and ensure that work is done by appropriately qualified
skilled workers."
2)Opposition . The United Contractors is opposed to the measure
unless amendments are made to it. Specifically, they are
concerned "the provisions of the bill might be misinterpreted
as authorizing causes of action against innocent third
parties." Likewise, they state: "extending the time frame to
two years for JLM committees to commence civil actions would
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conflict with underlying purposes of the existing statutes of
limitation under the Labor Code, namely that wage claimants
with good cause of actions should pursue them with reasonable
diligence. It is unfair and inappropriate to require
employers to defend themselves years after the fact, at a time
when they may no longer have access to witnesses or other
evidence to disprove a claim?"
3)Existing law authorizes a JLM committee to bring a civil
action in court against an employer that fails to pay the
prevailing wage to its employees on a public works project.
This action must occur no later than 180 days after filing a
valid notice of completion with the county recorder, as
specified. This bill proposes to extend this time period to
take action to 24 months after the wages were due.
Statute also authorizes a JLM committee to file a civil action
and authorizes the court to award restitution to an employee
for unpaid wages. The court may award the JLM committee
reasonable attorney's fees and costs incurred in maintaining
the action. Current law further prohibits an action from
being based on the employer's misclassification of the craft
of a worker on its certified payroll records. This bill
replicates these provisions in a different code section
dealing with the ability of a JLM committee to file civic
action and adds provisions to require a court to award
interest and liquidated damages to an employee, as specified.
Current law requires any contractor or subcontractor on a
public works project to keep accurate payroll records
detailing the name, address, social security number, work
classification, hours worked, and wages paid to employees.
The certified payroll records are required to be made
available for inspection upon the request of an employee, the
awarding body, the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, or
the Division of Apprenticeship Standards. These records are
to be marked or obliterated to provide disclosure of an
individual's name, address, and social security number.
Statute requires any payroll records made available for
inspection to a JLM committee to be marked or obliterated only
to prevent disclosure of an individual's name and social
security number. This bill proposes to delete the requirement
to make an individual's name available.
AB 1336
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Analysis Prepared by : Kimberly Rodriguez / APPR. / (916)
319-2081