Labor Commissioner: unsatisfied judgments: nonpayment of wages.

Plain English Breakdown

The bill summary does not provide specific details on how the State Public Health Officer decides when to make exceptions for hospitals.

Labor Commissioner: Rules for Nonpayment of Wages

This bill changes how state agencies handle employers who have not paid their workers' wages and are required to get a license or permit from those agencies.

What This Bill Does

• Removes the special rules that apply only to long-term care industry employers when they do not pay their employees’ wages.
• Requires any state agency to deny new licenses or permits, or stop renewing existing ones, if an employer in its industry does not pay workers' wages and is required by law to have a license or permit from the agency.
• Needs the Labor Commissioner to tell the right state agency when an employer who needs a license or permit is breaking the rules about paying workers’ wages.
• Allows the State Public Health Officer to make exceptions for hospitals if not giving them licenses could harm public health.

Who It Names or Affects

• Employers who need licenses or permits from state agencies and do not pay their employees' wages.
• State agencies that give out licenses or permits.
• The Labor Commissioner's office.

Terms To Know

unsatisfied judgment

A court decision where the employer has to pay money but hasn't done so yet.

surety company

A company that guarantees a payment will be made if an employer doesn’t pay their workers' wages.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not say what happens to employers who do not need licenses or permits.
• It is unclear how the State Public Health Officer decides when to make exceptions for hospitals.
• This bill has passed both chambers of the California Legislature but its final status and any further actions are unknown.

Official Summary Text

AB 485, as amended, Ortega.
Labor Commissioner: unsatisfied judgments: nonpayment of wages.
Existing law establishes the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, under the direction of the Labor Commissioner, within the Department of Industrial Relations and sets forth its powers and duties regarding the enforcement of labor laws. Existing law authorizes the Labor Commissioner to investigate employee complaints and to take various actions against an employer with respect to unpaid wages.
Existing law generally prohibits an employer with an unsatisfied final judgment for nonpayment of wages from continuing to conduct business in California, unless that employer has obtained a bond from a surety company and filed that bond with the Labor Commissioner, as prescribed. Under existing law, if an employer in the long-term care industry that is also required to obtain a license from the State Department of Public Health or the State
Department of Social Services has violated the above provision governing unsatisfied judgments (unsatisfied judgment provision), either of those departments may deny a new license or the renewal of an existing license for that employer. Existing law further requires the Labor Commissioner, upon finding that an employer in the long-term care industry is violating the unsatisfied judgment provision, to notify those departments.
This bill would
repeal the above-described provision applicable to employers in the long-term care industry. The bill would
require a state agency, if an employer
in an industry
that is
also
required to obtain a license or permit from that state agency is found to have
violated the unsatisfied judgment provision, to deny a new license or permit or the renewal of an existing license or permit for that employer. The bill would also require the Labor Commissioner, upon finding that an employer is conducting business in violation of that provision, to notify the applicable state agency with jurisdiction over that employee’s license or permit.
The bill would additionally permit the State Public Health Officer to exempt a hospital employer from the bill’s requirements upon a determination that a denial, suspension, or revocation of the hospital’s license, permit, or renewal could have imminent or substantial adverse effects upon public health or safety or would violate constitutional law.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF