With a February 21 deadline to introduce new California legislation, the folks at the Capitol recently unveiled several employment-related bills. Although some of them may not make it to the Governor’s desk, they provide a snapshot of what lawmakers will be debating during this session.

Wage-Hour Violations

Senate Bill 310 (Wiener) would allow for a private “independent civil action” to recover penalties against employers who fail to pay employee wages. Currently, the law allows recovery only by an employee as a statutory penalty or by the Labor Commissioner as a civil penalty.

Senate Bill 261 (Wahab) would provide employers with an incentive to pay outstanding judgments resulting from proceedings before the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) by requiring the Labor Commissioner to do the following:

• Post a copy of an order on DLSE’s website no later than 15 days after the time to appeal the order has expired; and
• Remove the posting within 15 business days after the DLSE determines (1) that the employer has fully paid any unsatisfied judgment or other otherwise resolved the matter, and (2) the employer has submitted certification, under penalty of perjury, that the violations have been corrected.

Any employer who fails to satisfy the judgment within 180 days would be subject to an additional civil penalty in an amount not to exceed three times the judgment amount. In addition, the employee would be entitled to recover all reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs.

Senate Bill 355 (Perez) would give the DLSE the ability to suspend or revoke employers’ driver’s licenses and vehicle registrations if they fail to pay outstanding wage theft judgments. This penalty currently is available only for failure to pay child support and state taxes.

Pay Transparency

Senate Bill 642 (Limón) eliminates the ability for covered employers to list broad pay scales for their open positions. The pay range could not be more than 10% above or below the mean pay rate within the salary or hourly wage range. The bill would also extend the statute of limitations to file a civil action to recover wages from three (3) to four (4) years for willful violations of the wage differential law.

Pay Data

Under current law, private sector employers with 100 or more employees must submit annual pay data to the California Civil Rights Department. Senate Bill 464 (Smallwood-Cuevas) would extend this requirement to public employers of the same size beginning in 2027. The scope of the report also would be expanded to include “sexual orientation” as a category. Additionally, Senate Bill 464 would require a court to impose a civil penalty against a covered employer that fails to file its pay data report if requested to do so by the Civil Rights Department (CRD) and would require the CRD to publish private employer pay data reports even without any accompanying investigation or enforcement proceeding involving the data.

“Workplace Surveillance Tools”

Assembly Bill 1331 (Elhawary) would subject employers to strict limitations if they use “workplace surveillance tools,” such as a device to collect data about an individual’s activities, communications, actions, biometrics, or behaviors. Common tools in this area include video or audio surveillance and geolocation. If enacted, this bill generally would prohibit employers from using a workplace surveillance tool to monitor workers in private, off-duty work areas, at their homes, in their vehicles, or on property owned, leased, or used by a worker. Employers who violate the law would be subject to a civil penalty of $400 per employee for each violation and would be subject to an enforcement action.

Artificial Intelligence

Assembly Bill 1018 (Bauer-Kahan) would require employers to disclose to affected individuals the use of “automated decision systems” (ADS) in making employment-related decisions, such as hiring, compensation, and work assignments.

Now What?

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