Failure to pay wages: penalties.

Existing law provides for a civil penalty, in addition to, and entirely independent and apart from other penalties, on every person who fails to pay the wages of each employee, as specified, and requires the Labor Commissioner to recover that penalty. Existing law requires that a specified percentage of the penalty recovered under that provision be paid into a fund within the Labor and Workforce Development Agency dedicated to educating employers about state labor laws and that the remainder be paid into the State Treasury to the credit of the General Fund. This bill would repeal those provisions and instead make an employer or other person acting on behalf of an employer, as described, who fails to pay specified wages of each employee subject to a penalty of $200, payable to each affected employee, per pay period where the wages due are not paid on time, as specified. The bill would provide that the additional penalty does not apply to the failure to pay the final wages of an employee who is discharged or quits. Existing law makes an employer or other person acting individually or as an officer, agent, or employee of another person who fails to pay or causes a failure to pay an employee a wage less than the minimum wage subject to citation by the Labor Commissioner, a civil penalty, restitution of wages, liquidated damages, and certain other applicable penalties. This bill would specify that those remedies also apply when an employer or other person acting individually or as an officer, agent, or employee of another person fails to pay or causes a failure to pay an employee the regular wages owed to that employee when due. The bill would make other related conforming changes.