BILL NUMBER: AB 196	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Carter

                        JANUARY 27, 2011

   An act to amend Sections 213 and 226 of the Labor Code, relating
to employment.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 196, as introduced, Carter. Employment: compensation.
   Existing law authorizes employers in certain circumstances to
deposit an employee's wages or advance on wages in a bank, savings
and loan association, or credit union of the employee's choice.
   This bill would also authorize an employer to deposit an employee'
s wages or advance on wages in an industrial bank or a trust company.
In addition, this bill would permit an employer to transfer an
employee's wages or advance on wages to a card issued by a specified
financial institution, if the employee voluntarily authorizes the
transfer and the card can be used to access funds at an automated
teller machine in California, provided the employee is entitled to at
least one pay card transaction without charge per pay period. The
bill would also refer to a savings association instead of a savings
and loan association.
   Existing law also requires every employer, at the time of each
payment of wages, to furnish his or her employees with an accurate
itemized statement in writing showing specified information.
   This bill would authorize the employer to provide the accurate
itemized statement electronically, provided that the electronic
statement contains all required information and the employer provides
the employee with electronic access in a confidential setting during
normal business hours to print the statement.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


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

  SECTION 1.  Section 213 of the Labor Code is amended to read:
   213.  Nothing contained in Section 212 shall:
   (a) Prohibit an employer from guaranteeing the payment of bills
incurred by an employee for the necessaries of life or for the tools
and implements used by the employee in the performance of his or her
duties.
   (b) Apply to counties, municipal corporations, quasi-municipal
corporations, or school districts.
   (c) Apply to students of nonprofit schools, colleges,
universities, and other nonprofit educational institutions.
   (d) Prohibit an employer  ,   if voluntarily
authorized by an employee,  from depositing wages due or to
become due or an advance on wages to be earned in an account in any
bank,  savings and loan   industrial bank, trust
company, savings  association, or credit union of the employee'
s choice  with a place of business located in this state,
provided that the employee has voluntarily authorized that deposit
  in this state  . If an employer discharges an
employee or the employee quits, the  employer may pay the
wages earned and unpaid at the time the employee is discharged or
quits by making a deposit authorized pursuant to this subdivision,
provided that the employer complies with the   employee'
s voluntary aut   horization for deposit shall be deemed
terminated and the  provisions of this article relating to
 the  payment of wages upon termination  or
quitting of employment   of employment shall apply 
. 
   (e) Prohibit an employer, if voluntarily authorized by an
employee, from transferring wages due or to become due or an advance
on wages to be earned to a card issued to the employee by a bank,
industrial bank, trust company, savings association, or credit union
of the employee's choice that can be used to access funds at an
automated teller machine in this state, provided that the employee is
entitled to at least one pay card transaction without charge per pay
period. 
  SEC. 2.  Section 226 of the Labor Code is amended to read:
   226.  (a) Every employer shall, semimonthly or at the time of each
payment of wages, furnish each of his or her employees, either as a
detachable part of the check, draft, or voucher paying the employee's
wages, or separately when wages are paid by personal check or cash,
an accurate itemized statement  in writing showing (1) gross
wages earned, (2) total hours worked by the employee, except for any
employee whose compensation is solely based on a salary and who is
exempt from payment of overtime under subdivision (a) of Section 515
or any applicable order of the Industrial Welfare Commission, (3) the
number of piece-rate units earned and any applicable piece rate if
the employee is paid on a piece-rate basis, (4) all deductions,
provided that all deductions made on written orders of the employee
may be aggregated and shown as one item, (5) net wages earned, (6)
the inclusive dates of the period for which the employee is paid, (7)
the name of the employee and his or her social security number,
except that by January 1, 2008, only the last four digits of his or
her social security number or an employee identification number other
than a social security number may be shown on the itemized
statement, (8) the name and address of the legal entity that is the
employer, and (9) all applicable hourly rates in effect during the
pay period and the corresponding number of hours worked at each
hourly rate by the employee. The deductions made from payments of
wages shall be recorded in ink or other indelible form, properly
dated, showing the month, day, and year, and a copy of the statement
or a record of the deductions shall be kept on file by the employer
for at least three years at the place of employment or at a central
location within the State of California.   either
electronically, as provided in subdivision (d), or in writing showing
all of the following:  
   (1) Gross wages earned.  
   (2) Total hours worked by the employee, except for any employee
whose compensation is solely based on a salary and who is exempt from
payment of overtime under subdivision (a) of Section 515 or any
applicable order of the Industrial Welfare Commission.  
   (3) The number of piece-rate units earned and any applicable piece
rate if the employee is paid on a piece-rate basis.  
   (4) All deductions, provided that all deductions made on written
orders of the employee may be aggregated and shown as one item. The
deductions made from payments of wages shall be recorded in ink or
other indelible form, properly dated, showing the month, day, and
year, and a copy of the statement or a record of the deductions shall
be kept on file by the employer for at least three years at the
place of employment or at a central location within the State of
California.  
   (5) Net wages earned.  
   (6) The inclusive dates of the period for which the employee is
paid.  
   (7) The name of the employee and his or her social security
number, except that only the last four digits of his or her social
security number or an existing employee identification number other
than a social security number may be shown on the check.  
   (8) The name and address of the legal entity that is the employer.
 
   (9) All applicable hourly rates in effect during the pay period
and the corresponding number of hours worked at each hourly rate by
the employee. 
   (b) An employer that is required by this code or any regulation
adopted pursuant to this code to keep the information required by
subdivision (a) shall afford current and former employees the right
to inspect or copy the records pertaining to that current or former
employee, upon reasonable request to the employer. The employer may
take reasonable steps to assure the identity of a current or former
employee. If the employer provides copies of the records, the actual
cost of reproduction may be charged to the current or former
employee.
   (c) An employer who receives a written or oral request to inspect
or copy records pursuant to subdivision (b) pertaining to a current
or former employee shall comply with the request as soon as
practicable, but no later than 21 calendar days from the date of the
request. A violation of this subdivision is an infraction.
Impossibility of performance, not caused by or a result of a
violation of law, shall be an affirmative defense for an employer in
any action alleging a violation of this subdivision. An employer may
designate the person to whom a request under this subdivision will be
made. 
   (d) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, an employer may
furnish the itemized statement required by subdivision (a) in an
electronic format, provided that the electronic record contains all
the information required by this section and the employer, during
normal business hours, provides the employee with electronic access
in a confidential setting to print the itemized statement. 

   (d) 
    (e)  This section does not apply to any employer of any
person employed by the owner or occupant of a residential dwelling
whose duties are incidental to the ownership, maintenance, or use of
the dwelling, including the care and supervision of children, or
whose duties are personal and not in the course of the trade,
business, profession, or occupation of the owner or occupant.

   (e) 
    (f)  An employee suffering injury as a result of a
knowing and intentional failure by an employer to comply with
subdivision (a) is entitled to recover the greater of all actual
damages or fifty dollars ($50) for the initial pay period in which a
violation occurs and one hundred dollars ($100) per employee for each
violation in a subsequent pay period, not exceeding an aggregate
penalty of four thousand dollars ($4,000), and is entitled to an
award of costs and reasonable attorney's fees. 
   (f) 
    (g)  A failure by an employer to permit a current or
former employee to inspect or copy records within the time set forth
in subdivision (c) entitles the current or former employee or the
Labor Commissioner to recover a  seven-hundred-fifty-dollar
  seven hundred fifty dollar  ($750) penalty from
the employer. 
   (g) 
    (h)  An employee may also bring an action for injunctive
relief to ensure compliance with this section, and is entitled to an
award of costs and reasonable attorney's fees. 
   (h) 
    (i)  This section does not apply to the state, to any
city, county, city and county, district, or to any other governmental
entity, except that if the state or a city, county, city and county,
district, or other governmental entity furnishes its employees with
a check, draft, or voucher paying the employee's wages, the state or
a city, county, city and county, district, or other governmental
entity shall, by January 1, 2008, use no more than the last four
digits of the employee's social security number or shall use an
employee identification number other than the social security number
on  the itemized statement provided with the  
that  check, draft,  or  voucher  , or
electronic itemized statement  .