BILL NUMBER: AB 1689	CHAPTERED  10/10/99

	CHAPTER   692
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE   OCTOBER 10, 1999
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR   OCTOBER 6, 1999
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY   SEPTEMBER 3, 1999
	PASSED THE SENATE   SEPTEMBER 1, 1999
	AMENDED IN SENATE   AUGUST 30, 1999
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   MAY 28, 1999
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   MAY 18, 1999
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   MAY 6, 1999
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   APRIL 26, 1999

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Floyd
   (Coauthors:  Assembly Members Migden, Soto, Villaraigosa, and
Washington)
   (Coauthor:  Senator Hughes)

                        MARCH 22, 1999

   An act to amend Section 96 of the Labor Code, relating to
employment.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1689, Floyd.  Employment:  wage claims.
   Under existing law, the Labor Commissioner or his or her
representatives are authorized to take assignments of certain claims
for enforcement, including wage claims.
   This bill would authorize the Labor Commissioner or his or her
representatives to take assignments of claims for loss of wages due
to employer demotion, suspension, or discharge for lawful conduct
occurring during nonworking hours away from the employer's premises.
The bill would make legislative findings, including findings that
the bill is necessary to protect employee civil rights.


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


  SECTION 1.  The Legislature finds and declares that, absent the
protections afforded to employees by the Labor Commissioner, an
individual employee is ill-equipped and unduly disadvantaged in any
effort to assert the civil rights otherwise guaranteed by Article I
of the California Constitution.  The Legislature further finds and
declares that allowing any employer to deprive an employee of any
constitutionally guaranteed civil liberties, regardless of the
rationale offered, is not in the public interest.  The Legislature
further declares that this act is necessary to further the state
interest in protecting the civil rights of individual employees who
would not otherwise be able to protect themselves.
  SEC. 2.  Section 96 of the Labor Code is amended to read:
   96.  The Labor Commissioner and his or her deputies and
representatives authorized by him or her in writing shall, upon the
filing of a claim therefor by an employee, or an employee
representative authorized in writing by an employee, with the Labor
Commissioner, take assignments of:
   (a) Wage claims and incidental expense accounts and advances.
   (b) Mechanics' and other liens of employees.
   (c) Claims based on "stop orders" for wages and on bonds for
labor.
   (d) Claims for damages for misrepresentations of conditions of
employment.
   (e) Claims for unreturned bond money of employees.
   (f) Claims for penalties for nonpayment of wages.
   (g) Claims for the return of workers' tools in the illegal
possession of another person.
   (h) Claims for vacation pay, severance pay, or other compensation
supplemental to a wage agreement.
   (i) Awards for workers' compensation benefits in which the Workers'
Compensation Appeals Board has found that the employer has failed to
secure payment of compensation and where the award remains unpaid
more than 10 days after having become final.
   (j) Claims for loss of wages as the result of discharge from
employment for the garnishment of wages.
   (k) Claims for loss of wages as the result of demotion,
suspension, or discharge from employment for lawful conduct occurring
during nonworking hours away from the employer's premises.