SB 390, as introduced, Wright. Employee wage withholdings: failure to remit.
(1) Existing law makes it a crime for an employer to fail to make agreed-upon payments to health and welfare funds, pension funds, or various benefit plans. Existing law provides that the crime be punished as felony or a misdemeanor, as specified, if the amount unpaid exceeds $500, and as a misdemeanor, if the amount is less than $500.
This bill would make it a crime, as described above, for an employer to fail to remit withholdings from an employee’s wages that were made pursuant to state, local, or federal law.
(2) 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: yes.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section 227 of the Labor Code is amended to
2read:
begin deleteWhenever end deletebegin insertIf end insertan employerbegin insert has made withholdings from
2an employee’s wages pursuant to state, local, or federal law, orend insert
3 has agreed with any employee to make payments to a health or
4welfare fund, pension fundbegin insert,end insert or vacation plan, or other similar plan
5for the benefit of the employees, or a negotiated industrial
6promotion fund, or has entered into a collective bargaining
7agreement providing for these payments, it shall be unlawful for
8that employer willfully or
with intent to defraud to fail tobegin insert
remit
9the withholdings to the proper agency or to fail toend insert make the
10payments required by the terms of that agreement. A violation of
11any provision of this sectionbegin delete whereend deletebegin insert whenend insert the amount the employer
12failed to pay into the fund or funds exceeds five hundred dollars
13($500) shall be punishable by imprisonment pursuant to subdivision
14(h) of Section 1170 of the Penal Code, or in a county jail for a
15period of not more than one year, by a fine of not more than one
16thousand dollars ($1,000), or by both that imprisonment and fine.
17All other violations shall be punishable as a misdemeanor.
No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
19Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
20the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
21district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
22infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
23for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of
24the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within
25the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
26Constitution.
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