BILL NUMBER: AB 465	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 26, 2015

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Roger Hernández

                        FEBRUARY 23, 2015

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


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 465, as amended, Roger Hernández.  Wages. 
 Contracts against public policy.  
   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.  
   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. 

   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. 

   This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to this
provision. 
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


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

   SECTION   1.    Section 925 is added to the
  Labor Code   , to read:  
   925.  (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.  
  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.