BILL NUMBER: SB 435	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Padilla

                        FEBRUARY 21, 2013

   An act to amend Section 226.7 of the Labor Code, relating to
compensation.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 435, as introduced, Padilla. Compensation: piece-rate workers:
rest and recovery periods.
   Existing law prohibits an employer from requiring an employee to
work during any meal or rest period mandated by an order of the
Industrial Welfare Commission (IWC) and establishes penalties for an
employer's failure to provide a mandated meal or rest period.
Existing law establishes the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement
(DLSE) in the Department of Industrial Relations for the enforcement
of labor laws, including wage claims.
   This bill would make that prohibition applicable to any meal or
rest or recovery period mandated by applicable statute or applicable
regulation, standard, or order of the IWC, the Occupational Safety
and Health Standards Board, or the Division of Occupational Safety
and Health. The bill would require employers to pay employees for any
rest period mandated by law, including any applicable statute or
applicable regulation, standard, or order of the IWC, the board, or
the Division of Occupational Safety and Health, that is not provided.
The bill would require the rate of pay for the rest and recovery
periods of piece-rate workers to be the average piece-rate wage, as
specified. The bill would authorize a piece-rate worker, pursuant to
a civil action or a claim filed with DLSE, to recover his or her
unpaid average piece-rate wage for each rest or recovery period in
which a violation of these provisions occurred. The bill would
provide that it does not apply to an employee whose wages, hours, and
working conditions are covered by a collective bargaining agreement
that expressly addresses rest or recovery periods for employees paid
on a piece-rate basis.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 226.7 of the Labor Code is amended to read:
   226.7.  (a)  No   As used in this section,
"piece-rate basis" means a method of payment based on units of
production earned by an employee during a work day or a pay period,
or any fraction thereof. "Unit of production" means any measurable or
quantifiable employee activity that can be assigned a monetary value
for purposes of computing pay for activity performed by the employee
during a work day or pay period or fraction thereof. 
    (b)     An  employer shall  not
 require any employee to work during any meal or rest  or
recovery  period mandated  by an   pursuant
to any  applicable  statute, or applicable regulation,
standard, or  order of the Industrial Welfare Commission  ,
the Occupational Safety and Health Standards   Board, or the
Division of Occupational Safety and Health  . 
   (b) 
    (c)  If an employer fails to provide an employee a meal
period or rest period in accordance with  an  
any state law, including, but not limited to, any  applicable
 statute or applicable regulation, standard, or  order of
the Industrial Welfare Commission,  the Occupational Safety and
Health Standards Board, or the Division of Occupational Safety and
Health,  the employer shall pay the employee one additional hour
of pay at the employee's regular rate of compensation for each work
day that the meal or rest  or recovery  period is not
provided. 
   (d) (1) Rest or recovery periods mandated pursuant to any state
law, including but not limited to, statute, or regulation, standard,
or order of the Industrial Welfare Commission, the Occupational
Safety and Health Standards Board, or the Division of Occupational
Safety and Health, shall be counted as hours worked for which there
shall be no deduction from wages. An employee working on a piece-rate
basis shall be compensated for rest periods by being paid his or her
average piece-rate wage during each pay period, or portion of a pay
period, in which the employee was paid on a piece-rate basis. 

   (2) Pursuant to a civil action or a claim filed with the Division
of Labor Standards Enforcement, an employee working on a piece-rate
basis may recover his or her unpaid average piece-rate wage for each
rest or recovery period in any pay period in which a violation of
this subdivision occurred in addition to any amounts owed pursuant to
subdivision (c).  
   (e) This section does not apply to an employee whose wages, hours,
and working conditions are covered by a collective bargaining
agreement that expressly addresses rest or recovery periods for
employees paid on a piece-rate basis.