Wage disputes: waiver of claims.

Existing law requires that in a dispute over wages due between an employee and employer, the employer is required to immediately pay to the employee, without condition, that portion of the wages that is not in dispute, leaving the employee free to pursue his or her lawful remedies for the remainder. Existing law also prohibits an employer from requiring an employee to execute a release of a claim for wages due as a requirement to pay wages, unless all wages claimed are paid. The existing California Rules of Court provide for procedures for the settlement of class actions. This bill would provide that unless approval of a settlement or compromise relating to a claim for earned wages is being sought pursuant to the California Rules of Court, an employee's waiver or release of such a wage claim that is based on a provision of the Labor Code or an order of the Industrial Welfare Commission, or is derivative of such a claim, and is covered by a pending certified or uncertified class action or representative action, shall not be valid or enforceable if that employee is a class member or a putative class member in a pending certified or uncertified class action or is represented or potentially represented in a representative action.