BILL NUMBER: SB 1370	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  AUGUST 12, 2010

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Ducheny

                        FEBRUARY 19, 2010

   An act to amend Section 2751 of the Labor Code, relating to
employment.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 1370, as amended, Ducheny. Employment contract requirements.
   Existing  statutory  law  , which has been held
invalid by existing case law,  requires an employer who has no
permanent and fixed place of business in the state and who enters
into a contract of employment involving commissions as a method of
payment with an employee for services to be rendered within the state
to put the contract in writing and to set forth the method by which
the commissions are required to be computed and paid. An employer who
does not comply with those requirements is liable to the employee in
a civil action for triple damages.
   This bill would  , by January 1, 2012,  make this
contract requirement applicable to all employers entering into a
contract of employment involving commissions as a method of payment
with an employee for services to be rendered in the state.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


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

   SECTION 1.    The Legislature hereby finds and
declares that this bill is enacted in light of the holding in Lett v.
Paymentech, Inc. (N.D.Cal. 1999) 81 F.Supp.2d 992 and that the
intent of this bill is to restore the employee protections that had
been in effect prior to that holding by making Sections 2751 and 2752
of the Labor Code apply with equal force to employers with a fixed
place of business in the state as they do to employers who do not
have a fixed place of business in the state. 
   SECTION 1.   SEC. 2.   Section 2751 of
the Labor Code is amended to read:
   2751.  (a)  Whenever   By January 1, 2012,
whenever  an employer enters into a contract of employment with
an employee for services to be rendered within this state and the
contemplated method of payment of the employee involves commissions,
the contract shall be in writing and shall set forth the method by
which the commissions shall be computed and paid.
   (b) The employer shall give a signed copy of the contract to every
employee who is a party thereto and shall obtain a signed receipt
for the contract from each employee.  In the case of a contract
that expires and where the parties nevertheless continue to work
under the terms of the expired contract, the contract terms are
presumed to remain in full force and effect until the contract is
superseded or employment is terminated by either party. 
   (c) As used in this section, "commissions"  has the meaning
set forth in Section 204.1. "Commissions"  does not include
short term productivity bonuses such as are paid to retail clerks;
and it does not include bonus and profit-sharing plans, unless there
has been an offer by the employer to pay a fixed percentage of sales
or profits as compensation for work to be performed.