Amended in Assembly March 26, 2015

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 465

Introduced by Assembly Member Roger Hernández

February 23, 2015

An act to begin delete amend Section 229 of end delete begin insert add Section 925 to end insert the Labor Code, relating to employment.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 465, as amended, Roger Hernández. begin delete Wages. end delete begin insert Contracts against public policy. end insert

begin insert

Existing law declares that negotiation of terms and conditions of labor should result from voluntary agreement between employer and employee. Existing law provides that any person who coerces or compels any other person to enter into an agreement, written or verbal, not to join or become a member of any labor organization, as a condition of securing employment or continuing in employment, is guilty of a misdemeanor.

end insert begin insert

This bill would require the waiver of any legal right, penalty, forum, or procedure for specified employment law violations to be knowing, voluntary, and in writing. The bill would prohibit such a waiver from being made as a condition of employment and would provide that any such waiver required from an employee or potential employee as a condition of employment or continued employment is unconscionable, against public policy, and unenforceable.

end insert begin delete

Existing law provides that an individual can bring an action for the collection of wages due and unpaid regardless of whether there is a private agreement to arbitrate in place, except in a case regarding the interpretation or application of a collective bargaining agreement containing an arbitration agreement.

end delete begin delete

This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to this provision.

end delete

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

begin insert

begin insert SECTION end insert begin insert 1. end insert   

end insert

begin insert Section 925 is added to the end insert begin insert Labor Code end insert begin insert , to read: end insert

begin insert

begin insert 925. end insert   

(a) Any waiver of any legal right, penalty, forum, or
procedure for a violation of any provision of this code shall be
knowing, voluntary, and in writing. A waiver shall not expressly
be made as a condition of employment.

(b)  Any waiver of any legal right, penalty, forum, or procedure
for a violation of any provision of this code that is required for an
employee or potential employee as a condition of employment or
continued employment shall be deemed involuntary,
unconscionable, against public policy, and unenforceable.

end insert

begin delete

SECTION 1.  

Section 229 of the Labor Code is amended to
read:

229.  

An action to enforce the provisions of this article for the
collection of due and unpaid wages claimed by an individual may
be maintained without regard to the existence of any private
agreement to arbitrate. This section shall not apply to claims
involving any dispute concerning the interpretation or application
of a collective bargaining agreement containing such an arbitration
agreement.

end delete