Bill Text: CA SB698 | 2019-2020 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Employee wages: payment.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)
Status: (Passed) 2019-10-03 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 508, Statutes of 2019. [SB698 Detail]
Download: California-2019-SB698-Chaptered.html
Senate Bill
No. 698
CHAPTER 508
An act to amend Section 204 of the Labor Code, relating to employment.
[
Approved by
Governor
October 03, 2019.
Filed with
Secretary of State
October 03, 2019.
]
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 698, Leyva.
Employee wages: payment.
Existing law requires that employers pay wages to their employees, twice per calendar month, on days designated in advance as regular paydays. However, employees defined as executive, administrative, or professional may be paid once per month. Existing law provides that a violation of this provision is a misdemeanor.
This bill would require that employees of the Regents of the University of
California be paid on a regular payday. The bill would require those university employees who are paid on a monthly basis to be paid no later than 5 days after the close of the monthly payroll period and would also provide that those employees who are paid on a more frequent basis be paid in accordance with the pay policies announced in advance by the university.
By expanding the definition of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The bill would provide legislative findings and declarations in support of these provisions.
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.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: YESBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(a) The failure to pay employees their agreed-upon wages on time and on a regular payday can be detrimental to maintenance of the minimum standard of living necessary for health, efficiency, and general well-being of workers.
(b) The University of California has experienced errors in its new Payroll, Academic Personnel, Timekeeping and Human Resources (UCPath) system, which has led to delayed, missed, or smaller-than-expected paychecks for its employees.
(c) The Regents of the University of California will continue to implement the UCPath system at
additional University of California campuses over the next several years.
(d) The employees of the Regents of the University of California currently have no protection under the labor code to ensure they are paid on time and on a regular payday during the rollout of the new UCPath system.
(e) This bill ensures that these employees may file a claim in state court or with the Labor Commissioner if the university fails to issue payment on time and on a regular payday.
(f) This bill is not intended to alter whether the Regents of the University of California pay employees on a monthly or a more frequent basis, nor is it intended to alter the University’s current policy on official pay dates, as described in Policy Memorandum AM-P196-16-5
or its subsequent revisions.
SEC. 2.
Section 204 of the Labor Code is amended to read:204.
(a) All wages, other than those mentioned in Section 201, 201.3, 202, 204.1, or 204.2, earned by any person in any employment are due and payable twice during each calendar month, on days designated in advance by the employer as the regular paydays. Labor performed between the 1st and 15th days, inclusive, of any calendar month shall be paid for between the 16th and the 26th day of the month during which the labor was performed, and labor performed between the 16th and the last day, inclusive, of any calendar month, shall be paid for between the 1st and 10th day of the following month. However, salaries of executive, administrative, and professional employees of employers covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act, as set forth pursuant to Section 13(a)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act, as amended through March 1, 1969, in Part 541 of Title 29 of the Code of Federal Regulations, as that part now reads or may be amended to read at any time hereafter, may be paid once a month on or before the 26th day of the month during which the labor was performed if the entire month’s salaries, including the unearned portion between the date of payment and the last day of the month, are paid at that time.(b) (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, all wages earned for labor in excess of the normal work period shall be paid no later than the payday for the next regular payroll period.
(2) An employer is in compliance with the requirements of subdivision (a) of Section 226 relating to total hours worked by the employee, if hours worked in excess of the normal work period during the current pay period are itemized as corrections on the paystub
for the next regular pay period. Any corrections set out in a subsequently issued paystub shall state the inclusive dates of the pay period for which the employer is correcting its initial report of hours worked.
(c) However, when employees are covered by a collective bargaining agreement that provides different pay arrangements, those arrangements shall apply to the covered employees.
(d) The requirements of this section shall be deemed satisfied by the payment of wages for weekly, biweekly, or semimonthly payroll if the wages are paid not more than seven calendar days following the close of the payroll period.
(e) Notwithstanding subdivision (a) of Section 220, all wages earned by employees directly employed by the Regents of the University of California shall be paid on a regular payday. For the employees on a monthly payment schedule, payment is due no later than five days after the close of the monthly payroll period. For employees on a more frequent payment schedule, payment is due according to the pay schedule announced by the University of California in advance. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit the Regents of the University of California from allowing its employees to choose to distribute their pay so that they will receive paychecks throughout the year, rather than during pay periods worked only.
