BILL NUMBER: AB 795 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 15, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 26, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Low
FEBRUARY 25, 2015
An act to add Section 63.5 to amend
Section 90.5 of the Labor Code, relating to employment.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 795, as amended, Low. Employment: Department of Industrial
Relations: wage claims. claims and
retaliation complaints.
Existing law establishes within the Department of
Industrial Relations to, among other things, enforce labor
laws, including wage claims the Division of Labor
Standards Enforcement, which is vested with the general duty of
enforcing labor laws, including those relating to wage claims and
employer retaliation. Existing law requires the Labor Commissioner,
defined as the Chief of the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement,
to establish and maintain a field enforcement unit in order to ensure
that minimum labor standards are met. Existing law requires the
commissioner to report annually to the Legislature, not later
than March 1, concerning the effectiveness of the field
enforcement unit, as specified .
This bill would require the department to report
Labor Commissioner to include in its report to
the Legislature, for each office, the amount of time it
takes for all wage claims to receive a preliminary hearing date
as described above, specified information on the
status o f wage claims and retaliation complaints,
including the average amount of time it takes for a wage claim to
receive a preliminary hearing and the current backlog of claims and
complaints .
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 90.5 of the Labor
Code is amended to read:
90.5. (a) It is the policy of this state to vigorously enforce
minimum labor standards in order to ensure employees are not required
or permitted to work under substandard unlawful conditions or for
employers that have not secured the payment of compensation, and to
protect employers who comply with the law from those who attempt to
gain a competitive advantage at the expense of their workers by
failing to comply with minimum labor standards.
(b) In order to ensure that minimum labor standards are adequately
enforced, the Labor Commissioner shall establish and maintain a
field enforcement unit, which shall be administratively and
physically separate from offices of the division that accept and
determine individual employee complaints. The unit shall have offices
in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, San Diego, Sacramento, and
any other locations that the Labor Commissioner deems appropriate.
The unit shall have primary responsibility for administering and
enforcing those statutes and regulations most effectively enforced
through field investigations, including Sections 226, 1021, 1021.5,
1193.5, 1193.6, 1194.5, 1197, 1198, 1771, 1776, 1777.5, 2651, 2673,
2675, and 3700, in accordance with the plan adopted by the Labor
Commissioner pursuant to subdivision (c). Nothing in this section
shall be construed to limit the authority of this unit in enforcing
any statute or regulation in the course of its investigations.
(c) The Labor Commissioner shall adopt an enforcement plan for the
field enforcement unit. The plan shall identify priorities for
investigations to be undertaken by the unit that ensure the available
resources will be concentrated in industries, occupations, and areas
in which employees are relatively low paid and unskilled, and those
in which there has been a history of violations of the statutes cited
in subdivision (b), and those with high rates of noncompliance with
Section 3700.
(d) The Labor Commissioner shall annually report to the
Legislature, not later than March 1, concerning the
effectiveness following:
(1) The effectiveness of the
field enforcement unit. The This part of the
report shall include, but not be limited to, all of the
following:
(1)
(A) The enforcement plan adopted by the Labor
Commissioner pursuant to subdivision (c), and the rationale for the
priorities identified in the plan.
(2)
(B) The number of establishments investigated by the
unit, and the number of types of violations found.
(3)
(C ) The amount of wages found to be
unlawfully withheld from workers, and the amount of unpaid wages
recovered for workers.
(4)
(D ) The amount of penalties and unpaid
wages transferred to the General Fund as a result of the efforts of
the unit.
(2) The status of wage claims and retaliation complaints. This
part of the report shall include, but not be limited to, all of the
following:
(A) The average amount of time it takes for a wage claim to
receive a preliminary hearing.
(B) The number of determinations issued, the number of
investigative hearings held, the number of complaints dismissed, and
the number of complaints found valid, grouped by the year in which
the complaints were filed.
(C) An update on the division's current backlog of wage claims and
retaliation complaints.
(e) The report required by subdivision (d) shall be provided in
compliance with the provisions of Section 9795 of the Government
Code.
SECTION 1. Section 63.5 is added to the Labor
Code, immediately following Section 63, to read:
63.5. (a) The Department of Industrial Relations shall report to
the Legislature, for each office, the amount of time it takes for all
wage claims to receive a preliminary hearing date.
(b) The report to the Legislature pursuant to this sections shall
be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
(c) This section shall become inoperative on January 1, 2020,
pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code.