Industrial Welfare Commission

On July 10, 2023, Governor Newsom signed Assembly Bill (AB) 102 which will amend the Budget Act of 2023. The bill will take effect immediately as a Budget Bill.

While appropriations bills such as AB 102 are generally not of much interest to private employers, AB 102 is noteworthy because it includes a $3,000,000 appropriation

Effective January 1, 2016, California employers face a Labor Commissioner with significantly enhanced authority to enforce judgments for unpaid wages under California’s Fair Day’s Pay Act.

The new law seeks to prevent “wage theft” by authorizing the Labor Commissioner to issue stop work orders against employers (and successor employers) who have judgments against them for nonpayment of wages, to issue levies against employers’ bank accounts and accounts receivable, and to place liens against employers’ real and personal property.

The law also imposes criminal and personal liability against certain individuals acting on behalf of an employer, including owners, officers, directors, or managing agents, for various Labor Code violations. The law’s key provisions are highlighted below.Continue Reading California Labor Commissioner’s Enforcement Powers Set to Expand Dramatically

On October 5, 2015, Governor Jerry Brown signed into law a bill confirming that employees in the health care industry can waive one of their two meal periods when working a shift of over eight hours in a workday. This law clarifies confusion caused by a recently decided appellate case, Gerard v. Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center, 234 Cal.App.4th 285 (C.A. 4th, 2015) (review granted). The Gerard case is currently under review by the California Supreme Court.
Continue Reading Health Care Workers Allowed to Waive Meal Period