BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1506
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Date of Hearing: April 22, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT
Roger Hernández, Chair
AB 1506
(Committee on Labor and Employment) - As Introduced March 4,
2015
SUBJECT: Wages: theatrical employees
SUMMARY: Makes a clarifying change to add a statutory
cross-reference to a provision of existing law related to
specified "waiting time" penalties.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS: When an employee is discharged, the wages earned and
unpaid at the time of discharge are due and payable immediately.
When an employee quits, their final wages are generally due not
less than 72 hours later, unless they had given 72 hours
previous notice of their intention to quit.
As an exception to the time for final payment of wages discussed
above, certain industries have special time periods for the
final payment of wages due to the unique nature of their
industries. For example, payment of wages for employees laid
off or discharged from production of motion pictures may be made
by the next regular payday. (Labor Code Section 201.5).
Existing law also has special provisions related to temporary
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service employees, which generally requires weekly pay. (Labor
Code Section 201.3).
Existing law provides that if an employer pays an employee any
wages or fringe benefits, or both, and the check, draft or
voucher is subsequently refused payment because the employer has
no account with the bank or has insufficient funds, those wages
or fringe benefits, or both, shall continue as a penalty from
the due date thereof at the same rate until paid or until an
action therefor is commenced. However, the law provides that
those wages and fringe benefits shall not continue for more than
30 days and this penalty shall not apply if the employer can
establish to the satisfaction of the Labor Commissioner or an
appropriate court of law that the violation of the law was
unintentional. (Labor Code Section 203.1).
Labor Code Section 203.1 specifically cross-references the
special Labor Code provisions noted above to provide that these
penalties are still applicable once the special time for payment
of wages has lapsed in those unique industries.
However, Labor Code Section 203.1 fails to cross-reference one
special rule for final payment of wages - those governing live
theatrical and concert events. Current law allows employees at
venues that host live theatrical and concert events and their
employers to enter into a collective bargaining agreement to
establish a time limit for payment of wages after an employee is
discharged or laid off. (Labor Code Section 201.9).
This appears to be an oversight, and this bill will amend the
law to add to Labor Code Section 203.1 the appropriate
cross-reference to Labor Code Section 201.9.
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This measure is very similar to AB 2743 (Labor Committee) from
2014, which amended a different section of the law that failed
to properly cross-reference Labor Code Section 201.9. Last
year, legislative counsel identified Section 203.1 as containing
a similar error, but it was too late to amend AB 2743 to make
the additional change. Therefore, this bill makes the
additional clarifying change identified by Legislative Counsel.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
None on file.
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by:Ben Ebbink / L. & E. / (916) 319-2091
AB 1506
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