Bill Text: CA AB155 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Monterey County Water Resources Agency: design-build.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-1)

Status: (Passed) 2014-09-30 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 865, Statutes of 2014. [AB155 Detail]

Download: California-2013-AB155-Introduced.html

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BILL NUMBER: AB 155	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Alejo

                        JANUARY 22, 2013

   An act to amend Section 226 of the Labor Code, relating to
employment.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 155, as introduced, Alejo. Employment: payroll records: right
to inspect.
   Existing law requires an employer to furnish each employee with an
accurate itemized statement showing, among other things, the gross
and net wages earned, the inclusive dates of the pay period, and all
deductions. Existing law requires the employer to keep on file a copy
of the statement for at least 3 years at a specified location.
Existing law affords current and former employees the right to
inspect or copy records pertaining to their employment, upon
reasonable request to the employer. Existing law authorizes the
employer to charge any costs of reproduction of the employee's
records to the current or former employee.
   This bill would require the employee to elect to inspect or copy,
or receive a copy of, or any combination thereof, his or her
employment records. The bill would also declare the Legislature's
intent in this regard.
   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 finds and declares all of the
following:
   (a) In 1988, the Legislature passed, and the Governor signed into
law Senate Bill 2155 that amended employees' preexisting statutory
right to inspect their itemized pay records under Section 226 of the
Labor Code and extended to them a new right to receive a copy of
these basic pay records upon reasonable request to their employer.
   (b) Senate Bill 2155 was sponsored by California Rural Legal
Assistance, Inc., and was supported by the Alien Legalization Program
for Agriculture (whose membership included the California Farm
Bureau Federation and the Western Growers Association), the
California Labor Federation, and others. There was no opposition to
Senate Bill 2155, which passed by 37 "Aye" and no "No" votes in the
Senate and by 70 "Aye" and 1 "No" votes in the Assembly.
   (c) According to the Senate Committee on Labor and Industrial
Relations March 1988 analysis of Senate Bill 2155, as introduced, the
bill's proponents contended that Senate Bill 2155 was "necessary to
ensure that workers have the right to obtain copies of their payroll
records, especially in the case of undocumented workers who are
applying for amnesty under the federal Immigration Reform and Control
Act of 1986 (IRCA)."
   (d) The Senate Rules Committee's August 11, 1988, Senate Floor
Analysis (for final passage of the bill as amended in the Assembly)
stated: "This bill would permit current or former employees to copy
payroll deduction records that are maintained by the employer. ...
Employers would be empowered to charge former and current employees
for the actual costs of reproducing the records."
   (e) The Department of Industrial Relations, in its August 26,
1988, Enrolled Bill Report recommending that the Governor sign the
bill, stated: "This bill would require an employer, who is mandated
by law to keep wage deduction records, to allow employees to inspect
and/or copy such records.  The bill also] permits employers to
charge employees for the actual costs of reproducing the records."
   (f) The Department of Finance, in its August 29, 1988, Bill
Analysis recommending that the Governor sign the bill, stated:
"Senate Bill] 2155 gives employees or former employees the right to
copy these records and allows the employer to take reasonable steps
to verify the identity of the employee and to charge for the
reproduction of the records."
   (g) The author of the bill, Senator Nicolas C. Petris, in his
September 6, 1988, letter urging Governor Deukmejian to sign Senate
Bill 2155 into law, stated "Senate Bill 2155 clarifies current law by
spelling out that when employers are required to make basic pay
records 'available' to workers, that means they are required to
provide a copy, upon reasonable request."
   (h) Despite more than 20 years of consistent interpretation of
these provisions of the Labor Code, the California Superior Court in
the County of Riverside determined, in Esteban v. JSO, Inc. d.b.a.
America's Labor Supply, Inc., Docket No. INC-1104544, that the Labor
Code provisions enacted by Senate Bill 2155 do not obligate an
employer to make copies: "If the Legislature wanted to require an
employer to copy records on request, it could easily have said so."
   (i) The amendments made by this bill to provisions of Section 226
of the Labor Code enacted by Senate Bill 2155 are expressly intended
to overturn Esteban v. JSO, Inc., and are further intended to make
clear that these provisions afforded a current or former employee the
right to inspect or copy, or receive copies of, his or her payroll
records, or any combination thereof; that it was solely the employee,
and not the employer, who was authorized to make that election under
the statute; and that the amendments to these provisions made by
this bill are declaratory of existing law.
  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 only 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, beginning July 1, 2013, if the
employer is a temporary services employer as defined in Section
201.3, the rate of pay and the total hours worked for each temporary
services assignment. 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. For purposes of this subdivision,
"copy" includes a duplicate of the itemized statement provided to an
employee or a computer-generated record that accurately shows all of
the information required by this subdivision.
   (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.  In
making a request under this subdivision, an employee shall elect to
inspect or copy   the records, or to receive a copy of the
records, or any combination thereof.  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  , or to receive a copy of the records, or any
combination thereof, as specified by the employee  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) (1) 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 to exceed an aggregate penalty of four
thousand dollars ($4,000), and is entitled to an award of costs and
reasonable attorney's fees.
   (2) (A) An employee is deemed to suffer injury for purposes of
this subdivision if the employer fails to provide a wage statement.
   (B) An employee is deemed to suffer injury for purposes of this
subdivision if the employer fails to provide accurate and complete
information as required by any one or more of items (1) to (9),
inclusive, of subdivision (a) and the employee cannot promptly and
easily determine from the wage statement alone one or more of the
following:
   (i) The amount of the gross wages or net wages paid to the
employee during the pay period or any of the other information
required to be provided on the itemized wage statement pursuant to
items (2) to (4), inclusive, (6), and (9) of subdivision (a).
   (ii) Which deductions the employer made from gross wages to
determine the net wages paid to the employee during the pay period.
Nothing in this subdivision alters the ability of the employer to
aggregate deductions consistent with the requirements of item (4) of
subdivision (a).
   (iii) The name and address of 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 during the pay period.
   (iv) The name of the employee and only the last four digits of his
or her social security number or an employee identification number
other than a social security number.
   (C) For purposes of this paragraph, "promptly and easily determine"
means a reasonable person would be able to readily ascertain the
information without reference to other documents or information.
   (3) For purposes of this subdivision, a "knowing and intentional
failure" does not include an isolated and unintentional payroll error
due to a clerical or inadvertent mistake. In reviewing for
compliance with this section, the factfinder may consider as a
relevant factor whether the employer, prior to an alleged violation,
has adopted and is in compliance with a set of policies, procedures,
and practices that fully comply with this section.
   (f) A failure by an employer to permit a current or former
employee to inspect or copy records  , or to receive a copy of
the records, or any combination thereof, as specified by the employee
pursuant to subdivision (b)  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.