Employment: itemized wage statements: violations: actions.

Existing law requires an employer, either semimonthly or at the time of each payment of wages, to furnish their employees with an accurate itemized statement showing specified information. Existing law authorizes an employee to recover for a knowing and intentional violation of that provision actual damages, or a specified alternative dollar amount, whichever is greater, and to be awarded costs and attorney's fees. Existing law authorizes an employee to also bring an action for injunctive relief to ensure compliance with that provision and entitles the employee to an award of costs and reasonable attorney's fees. Existing law provides for specified civil penalties for violations of itemized wage statements. This bill would require an employee alleging a violation of itemized wage statement provisions to meet specified requirements before bringing an action against the employer, which would include providing written notice by certified mail to the employer of the alleged violation, including the facts and theories to support the alleged violation, and would allow the employer 65 calendar days of the postmark date of the notice to cure the violation, as specified. The Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 further provides that, as an alternative to civil penalties being assessed and collected by the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, the civil penalties may be recovered through a civil action brought by an aggrieved employee on behalf of themselves and other employees. The act authorizes an employer to cure specified violations of itemized wage statement requirements, within 33 days of the date of the notice from the aggrieved employee, by making the aggrieved employee whole and providing itemized wage statements for each pay period for the last 3 years. This bill would expand the types of itemized wage statement violations that an employer could cure and would allow the employer 65 calendar days of the postmark date of the notice to cure the violation, as specified. The bill would also reduce from 3 years to one year the past itemized wage statements that the employer is required to provide in order to cure a violation. Existing law permits an aggrieved employee, on behalf of themselves and other current or former employees, to bring a civil action pursuant to specified procedures for a violation of a provision of the Labor Code that provides for a civil penalty to be assessed and collected by the Labor and Workforce Development Agency. Existing law authorizes civil penalties of $100 per employee for violation of the above-specified provision for an initial violation and $200 per employee for each subsequent violation. This bill would limit the amount of penalties that may be recovered to $5,000 if the aggrieved employees did not suffer actual economic or physical harm. The bill would also define the term "violation" for purposes of that provision.