Title LAB — California Lab. Code

Section 204 shall be inapplicable to executive, administrative or professional employees who are not covered by any collective bargaining agreement, who are not subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act, whose monthly remuneration does not include overtime pay, and who are paid wit…

In agricultural, viticultural, and horticultural pursuits, in stock or poultry raising, and in household domestic service, when the employees in such employments are boarded and lodged by the employer, the wages due any employee remaining in such employment shall become due and p…

All wages, other than those mentioned in Sections 201 and 202, earned by any agricultural employee, as defined in Section 1140.4, are due and payable twice during each calendar month, on days designated in advance by the agricultural employer as the regular paydays. Labor perform…

(a) In case of a dispute over wages, the employer shall pay, without condition and within the time set by this article, all wages, or parts thereof, conceded by him to be due, leaving to the employee all remedies he might otherwise be entitled to as to any balance claimed. (b) If…

(a) An employer shall not require the execution of a release of a claim or right on account of wages due, or to become due, or made as an advance on wages to be earned, unless payment of those wages has been made. A release required or executed in violation of the provisions of t…

Every employer shall keep posted conspicuously at the place of work, if practicable, or otherwise where it can be seen as employees come or go to their places of work, or at the office or nearest agency for payment kept by the employer, a notice specifying the regular pay days an…

Every employee who is discharged shall be paid at the place of discharge, and every employee who quits shall be paid at the office or agency of the employer in the county where the employee has been performing labor. All payments shall be made in the manner provided by law. (Enac…

In the event of any strike, the unpaid wages earned by striking employees shall become due and payable on the next regular pay day, and the payment or settlement thereof shall include all amounts due the striking employees without abatement or reduction. The employer shall return…

(a) In addition to, and entirely independent and apart from, any other penalty provided in this article, every person who fails to pay the wages of each employee as provided in Sections 201.3, 204, 204b, 204.1, 204.2, 204.11, 205, 205.5, and 1197.5, shall be subject to a penalty …

When action to recover such penalties is brought, no court costs shall be payable by the state or the division. Any sheriff or marshal who serves the summons in the action upon any defendant within his or her jurisdiction shall do so without cost to the division. The sheriff or m…

(a) No person, or agent or officer thereof, shall issue in payment of wages due, or to become due, or as an advance on wages to be earned: (1) Any order, check, draft, note, memorandum, or other acknowledgment of indebtedness, unless it is negotiable and payable in cash, on deman…

Nothing contained in Section 212 shall: (a) Prohibit an employer from guaranteeing the payment of bills incurred by an employee for the necessaries of life or for the tools and implements used by the employee in the performance of his or her duties. (b) Apply to counties, municip…

Prosecution under section 212 may be brought either at the place where the alleged illegal order, check, draft, note, memorandum or other acknowledgment of wage indebtedness is issued or at the place where it is made payable. (Enacted by Stats. 1937, Ch. 90.)

Any person, or the agent, manager, superintendent or officer thereof, who violates any provision of Section 201.3, 204, 204b, 205, 207, 208, 209, or 212 is guilty of a misdemeanor. Any failure to keep posted any notice required by Section 207 is prima facie evidence of a violatio…

In addition to any other penalty imposed by this article, any person, or an agent, manager, superintendent, or officer thereof is guilty of a misdemeanor, who: (a) Having the ability to pay, willfully refuses to pay wages due and payable after demand has been made. (b) Falsely de…

The Division of Labor Law Enforcement shall inquire diligently for any violations of this article, and, in cases which it deems proper, shall institute the actions for the penalties provided for in this article and shall enforce this article.

Nothing in this article shall limit the right of any wage claimant to sue directly or through an assignee for any wages or penalty due them under this article.

(a) In any action brought for the nonpayment of wages, fringe benefits, or health and welfare or pension fund contributions, the court shall award reasonable attorney’s fees and costs to the prevailing party if any party to the action requests attorney’s fees and costs upon the i…

In any action brought for the nonpayment of wages, the court shall award interest on all due and unpaid wages at the rate of interest specified in subdivision (b) of Section 3289 of the Civil Code, which shall accrue from the date that the wages were due and payable as provided i…

(a) (1) For contracts entered into between January 1, 2018, and December 31, 2021, inclusive, a direct contractor making or taking a contract in the state for the erection, construction, alteration, or repair of a building, structure, or other private work, shall assume, and is l…

(a) (1) For contracts entered into on or after January 1, 2022, and before January 1, 2026, a direct contractor making or taking a contract in the state for the erection, construction, alteration, or repair of a building, structure, or other private work, shall assume, and is lia…

(a) (1) For contracts entered into on or after January 1, 2026, a direct contractor making or taking a contract in the state for the erection, construction, alteration, or repair of a building, structure, or other private work, shall assume, and is liable for, any indebtedness fo…

(a) Nothing in this article shall in any way limit or prohibit the payment of wages at more frequent intervals, or in greater amounts, or in full when or before due, but no provision of this article can in any way be contravened or set aside by a private agreement, whether writte…

(a) Sections 201.3, 201.5, 201.6, 201.7, 201.8, 203.1, 203.5, 204, 204a, 204b, 204c, 204.1, 205, and 205.5 do not apply to the payment of wages of employees directly employed by the State of California. Except as provided in subdivision (b), all other employment is subject to the…

Contributions to vacation allowances, pension or retirement funds, sick leave, and health and welfare benefits on behalf of persons employed by any county, political subdivision, incorporated city or town or other municipal corporations may be made in the same manner and on the s…

It shall be unlawful for any employer to collect or receive from an employee any part of wages theretofore paid by said employer to said employee.

It shall be unlawful, in case of any wage agreement arrived at through collective bargaining, either wilfully or unlawfully or with intent to defraud an employee, a competitor, or any other person, to withhold from said employee any part of the wage agreed upon.

No person shall withhold or deduct from the compensation of any employee, or require any prospective employee or applicant for employment to pay, any fee for, or cost of, any pre-employment medical or physical examination taken as a condition of employment, nor shall any person w…

Where any statute or contract requires an employer to maintain the designated wage scale, it shall be unlawful to secretly pay a lower wage while purporting to pay the wage designated by statute or by contract.

The provisions of Sections 221, 222 and 223 shall in no way make it unlawful for an employer to withhold or divert any portion of an employee’s wages when the employer is required or empowered so to do by state or federal law or when a deduction is expressly authorized in writing…

The violation of any provision of Sections 221, 222, 222.5, or 223 is a misdemeanor.

In addition to, and entirely independent and apart from, any other penalty provided in this article, every person who unlawfully withholds wages due any employee in violation of Section 212, 216, 221, 222, or 223 shall be subject to a civil penalty as follows: (a) For any initial…

(a) An employer, semimonthly or at the time of each payment of wages, shall furnish to their employee, either as a detachable part of the check, draft, or voucher paying the employee’s wages, or separately if wages are paid by personal check or cash, an accurate itemized statemen…

The requirements of item (9) of subdivision (a) of Section 226, with respect to a temporary services employer, do not apply to a security services company that is licensed by the Department of Consumer Affairs and that solely provides security services.

This section shall apply for employees who are compensated on a piece-rate basis for any work performed during a pay period. This section shall not be construed to limit or alter minimum wage or overtime compensation requirements, or the obligation to compensate employees for all…

Any employer who violates subdivision (a) of Section 226 shall be subject to a civil penalty in the amount of two hundred fifty dollars ($250) per employee per violation in an initial citation and one thousand dollars ($1,000) per employee for each violation in a subsequent citat…

If, upon inspection or investigation, the Labor Commissioner determines that an employer is in violation of subdivision (a) of Section 226, the Labor Commissioner may issue a citation to the person in violation. The citation may be served personally, in the same manner as provide…

(a) If a person desires to contest a citation or the proposed assessment of a civil penalty therefor, he or she shall within 15 business days after service of the citation notify the office of the Labor Commissioner which appears on the citation of his or her request for an infor…

Any employer who knowingly and intentionally violates the provisions of Section 226, or any officer, agent, employee, fiduciary, or other person who has the control, receipt, custody, or disposal of, or pays, the wages due any employee, and who knowingly and intentionally partici…

(a) As used in this section, “recovery period” means a cooldown period afforded an employee to prevent heat illness. (b) An employer shall not require an employee to work during a meal or rest or recovery period mandated pursuant to an applicable statute, or applicable regulation…

(a) Notwithstanding any provision of this code or of Industrial Welfare Commission Wage Order No. 1, the requirement that employees be relieved of all duties during rest periods shall not apply with respect to an employee holding a safety-sensitive position at a petroleum facilit…

(a) It is unlawful for any person or employer to engage in any of the following activities: (1) Willful misclassification of an individual as an independent contractor. (2) Charging an individual who has been willfully misclassified as an independent contractor a fee, or making a…

All employers shall comply with standards relating to sanitary facilities adopted by the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board pursuant to Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 140) of Division 1.

If an employer has made withholdings from an employee’s wages pursuant to state, local, or federal law, or has agreed with any employee to make payments to a health or welfare fund, pension fund, or vacation plan, or other similar plan for the benefit of the employees, or a negot…

Unless otherwise provided by a collective-bargaining agreement, whenever a contract of employment or employer policy provides for paid vacations, and an employee is terminated without having taken off his vested vacation time, all vested vacation shall be paid to him as wages at …

Whenever an employer has agreed with any employee to make payments to a health or welfare fund, pension fund or vacation plan, or such other plan for the benefit of the employee, or has entered into a collective bargaining agreement providing for such payments, the employer upon …

The payments under Section 227 of this code shall be deemed to include payments to apprenticeship funds. This amendment is hereby declared to be merely a clarification of the original intention of the Legislature and is not a substantive change.

Actions to enforce the provisions of this article for the collection of due and unpaid wages claimed by an individual may be maintained without regard to the existence of any private agreement to arbitrate. This section shall not apply to claims involving any dispute concerning t…

(a) An employer shall not discharge or in any manner discriminate against an employee for taking time off to serve as required by law on an inquest jury or trial jury, if the employee, prior to taking the time off, gives reasonable notice to the employer that the employee is requ…

(a) In addition to the requirements and prohibitions imposed on employees pursuant to Section 230, an employer with 25 or more employees shall not discharge, or in any manner discriminate or retaliate against, an employee who is a victim, for taking time off from work for any of …