Employment: public entities.

Existing law establishes in the Department of Industrial Relations the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement under the direction of the Labor Commissioner. Existing law authorizes the Labor Commissioner to investigate employee complaints and to provide for a hearing in any action to recover wages, penalties, and other demands for compensation. Under existing law, any individual or business entity that contracts for services in the property services or long-term care industries is jointly and severally liable for any unpaid wages, including interest, where the individual or business entity has been provided notice, by any party, of any proceeding or investigation by the Labor Commissioner in which the employer is found liable for those unpaid wages, to the extent the amounts are for services performed under that contract, as provided, and except as specified. This bill would additionally provide that any public entity, defined as a city, county, city and county, district, public authority, public agency, and any other political subdivision or public corporation in the state, is jointly and severally liable for any unpaid wages, as provided in the above paragraph. The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities.