BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 795|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 795
Author: Low (D)
Amended: 6/15/15 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE LABOR & IND. REL. COMMITTEE: 5-0, 7/8/15
AYES: Mendoza, Stone, Jackson, Leno, Mitchell
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 79-1, 6/1/15 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Employment: Department of Industrial Relations: wage
claims and retaliation complaints
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill requires the Division of Labor Standards
Enforcement (DLSE) to include a section on the status of wage
and retaliation claims in their annual report.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Establishes the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement
(DLSE), headed by the Labor Commissioner, which is empowered
to enforce California's labor laws, including the minimum wage
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and workers' compensation. (Labor Code §§ 79, 90.3, & 90.5)
2)Authorizes the Labor Commissioner to investigate employee
complaints and provide for a hearing in any action to recover
wages, penalties, and other demands for compensation,
including liquidated damages if the complaint alleges payment
of a wage less than the minimum wage fixed by an order of the
Industrial Welfare Commission or by statute, properly before
the division or the Labor Commissioner, including orders of
the Industrial Welfare Commission, and is required to
determine all matters arising under his or her jurisdiction.
(Labor Code § 98)
3)Requires that the Labor Commissioner reports to the
Legislature, not later than March 1, concerning the
effectiveness of the field enforcement unit. The report must
include, but is not be limited to, all of the following:
a) The enforcement plan adopted by the Labor Commissioner,
and the rationale for the priorities identified in the
plan;
b) The number of establishments investigated by the unit,
and the number of types of violations found;
c) The amount of wages found to be unlawfully withheld from
workers, and the amount of unpaid wages recovered for
workers; and
d) The amount of penalties and unpaid wages transferred to
the General Fund as a result of the efforts of the unit.
This bill adds a second section to the annual legislative report
by the Labor Commissioner on the status of wage and retaliation
claims. This report includes:
1)The average amount of time it takes for a wage claim to
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receive a preliminary hearing;
2)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; and
3)An update on the division's current backlog of wage claims and
retaliation complaints.
Comments
1)Wage Claims Adjudication:
In 2013, the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement issued a
general update on the progress of the Division since 2010. In
the Report, the DLSE reported that, despite some of the lowest
staffing levels in recent years, DLSE was able to cut the
length of time a wage dispute reached a hearing from 7 months
to slightly less than 6 months. However, as of 2010, the
adjudication process for garment manufacturing workers (known
as the AB 633 process) remains significantly longer than that.
While the number of AB 633 hearings tripled between 2011 and
2012, DLSE notes in their report that there is a continued
need to shorten hearing waiting times.
AB 795 requires that the DLSE report to the Legislature on
wage claim adjudication hearing wait times, backlog, and
decisions issued.
Related Legislation
SB 588 (DeLeon), which was heard by the Senate Committee on
Labor and Industrial Relations in April, allows the Labor
Commissioner to file a lien or levy on an employer's property in
order to assist the employee in collecting unpaid wages when
there is a judgment against the employer. SB 588 is currently
before the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
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SUPPORT: (Verified8/17/15)
None received
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/17/15)
None received
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: The author argues that DLSE has faced
a significant backlog in processing wage claims, which creates
delays in workers receiving the wages they are due. The author
notes that such delays adversely impact the most vulnerable
Californians who are desperately in need of their wages to meet
the basic needs of themselves and their families. The author
believes that AB 795 will help address this by providing the
Legislature with timely data on the status of wage claim
adjudication hearing wait times, backlog, and decisions issued.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 79-1, 6/1/15
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom,
Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang,
Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle,
Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina
Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez,
Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin,
Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low,
Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin,
Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Perea,
Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago,
Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber,
Wilk, Williams, Wood, Atkins
NOES: Harper
Prepared by:Gideon L. Baum / L. & I.R. / (916) 651-1556
8/20/15 15:35:40
**** END ****
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