BILL NUMBER: AB 1744 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 29, 2012
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Bonnie Lowenthal
FEBRUARY 17, 2012
An act to amend Section 970 226 of
the Labor Code, relating to employment.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1744, as amended, Bonnie Lowenthal. Solicitation of
employees: misrepresentation. Employee compensation:
itemized statements.
Existing law requires every employer, semimonthly or at the time
of each payment of wages, to furnish each employee with an accurate
itemized statement in writing showing specified information. Existing
law provides that a knowing and intentional violation of this
provision is a misdemeanor.
This bill would additionally require that the itemized statement
include, if the employer is a temporary services employer, the name
and address of the legal entities that secured the services of the
employer and total hours worked for each legal entity.
Because a willful violation of the bill's provisions would be a
crime, this bill 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.
Existing law prohibits a person from influencing, persuading, or
engaging a worker to change from one place to another by knowingly
false misrepresentations.
This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to this
provision.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no
yes . State-mandated local program: no
yes .
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. 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 the last four digits of his or her
social security number or an employee identification number other
than a social security number, (8) the name and address of the legal
entity that is the employer and, if the employer is a farm labor
contractor, as defined in subdivision (b) of Section 1682, the name
and address of the legal entity that secured the services of 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 , and (10), if the
employer is a temporary services employer as defined in Section
201.3, the name and address of the legal entities that secured the
services of the employer and total hours worked for each
legal entity . The deductions made from payment 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 and the 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.
(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 records pertaining to their employment, upon
reasonable request to the employer. The employer may take reasonable
steps to ensure 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) 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) 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) 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 ($750) penalty
from the employer.
(g) The listing by an employer of the name and address of the
legal entity that secured the services of the employer in the
itemized statement required by subdivision (a) shall not create any
liability on the part of that legal entity.
(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.
(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 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 check, draft, or voucher.
SEC. 2. 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.
SECTION 1. Section 970 of the Labor Code is
amended to read:
970. A person, or agent or officer of that person, directly or
indirectly, shall not influence, persuade, or engage any person to
change from one place to another in this state or from any place
outside to any place within the state, or from any place within the
state to any place outside, for the purpose of working in any branch
of labor, through knowingly false representations, whether spoken,
written, or advertised in printed form, concerning any of the
following:
(a) The kind, character, or existence of the work.
(b) The length of time the work will last, or the compensation for
the work.
(c) The sanitary or housing conditions relating to or surrounding
the work.
(d) The existence or nonexistence of any strike, lockout, or other
labor dispute affecting it and pending between the proposed employer
and the persons then or last engaged in the performance of the labor
for which the employee is sought.