BILL NUMBER: AB 2187	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Arambula

                        FEBRUARY 18, 2010

   An act to add Section 1199.6 to the Labor Code, relating to
employment.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2187, as introduced, Arambula. Employment: payment of wages.
   Existing law makes it a misdemeanor for a person or employer who,
having the ability to pay, willfully refuses to pay wages to due to a
current employee, an employee who has resigned, or an employee who
has been discharged. Under existing law, a person found guilty of
this crime must pay restitution to the employee to whom wages are
owed. Existing law also imposes civil penalties against a person or
employer who wrongfully fails to pay wages.
   This bill would create a separate prohibition against a person or
an employer who, having the ability to pay, willfully fails to pay
all wages due to an employee who has been discharged or who has quit
within 90 days of the date of the wages becoming due and would impose
additional criminal penalties for such conduct. The bill would also
require a person or employer who violates these provisions to pay
restitution in an amount equal to the amount of unpaid wages to the
aggrieved employee and prosecution costs, upon conviction becoming
final.
   Because this bill would create a new crime, it would impose a
state-mandated local program.
   The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
   This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.


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

  SECTION 1.  The Legislature finds and declares the following:
   (a) Many criminal fines and other penalties and California's
statutory provisions that relate to the payment of wages have not
been strengthened in decades and lag behind other jurisdictions,
which have both increased criminal penalties and enacted civil
remedies to encourage employers to pay wages promptly when due.
   (b) The development of a single statutory scheme addressing the
theft of wages and imposing significant penalties for committing such
theft sends an appropriate message to prosecutors to aggressively
pursue violators and ensures that restitution of unpaid wages to
aggrieved employees is a central focus of prosecutions for theft of
wages.
  SEC. 2.  Section 1199.6 is added to the Labor Code, to read:
   1199.6.  (a) In addition to any other penalty imposed, an employer
or other person acting either individually or as an officer, agent,
or employee of another person is guilty of a misdemeanor and is
punishable by a fine of not less than one thousand dollars ($1,000)
and not more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or by imprisonment
in a county jail for not more than six months, or by both, who,
having the ability to pay, willfully fails to pay all wages due to an
employee who has been discharged or who has quit within 90 days of
the date that those wages became due.
   (b) Upon a finding of a violation of subdivision (a), the
violating employer or person shall pay restitution to the aggrieved
employee in an amount equal to the total amount of unpaid wages.
   (c) An employer or person who violates subdivision (a), upon
conviction becoming final and unappealable, shall pay all reasonable
costs of prosecution to the entity that prosecutes. For purposes of
this subdivision, "conviction" means a verdict of guilty or a plea of
guilty or nolo contendere.
  SEC. 3.  No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the
Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the
meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.