California Labor Code. California
election to his or her appointing power authorizing the state employer to defer into the next calendar year payment of any or all of the employee’s unused or accumulated vacation, annual leave, holiday leave, sick leave to which the employee is otherwise entitled due to a disability, retirement, or time off to which the employee is entitled by reason of previous overtime work where compensating time off was given by the appointing power. To qualify for the deferral of payment under this section, only that portion of leave that extends past the November pay period for state employees shall be deferred into the next calendar year under this section may do any of the following:
(1) Contribute the entire payment to his or her 401(k), 403(b), or 457 plan account.
(2) Contribute any portion of the deferred payment to his or her 401(k), 403(b), or 457 plan account and receive cash payment for the remaining noncontributed unused leave.
(3) Receive a lump-sum payment for all of the deferred unused leave as described above.
Payments shall be tendered under this section no later than February 1 in the year following the employee’s last day of employment. Nothing in this section is intended to authorize contributions in excess of the annual deferral limits imposed under federal and state law or the provisions of the supplemental retirement plan itself.
(Amended by Stats. 2002, Ch. 40, Sec. 7. Effective May 16, 2002.)
203. (a) If an employer willfully fails to pay, without abatement or reduction, in accordance with Sections 201, 201.3, 201.5, 201.9, 202, and 205.5, any wages of an employee who is discharged or who quits, the wages of the employee shall continue as a penalty from the due date thereof at the same rate until paid or until an action therefor is commenced; but the wages shall not continue for more than 30 days. An employee who secretes or absents himself or herself to avoid payment to him or her, or who refuses to receive the payment when fully tendered to him or her, including any penalty then accrued under this section, is not entitled to any benefit under this section for the time during which he or she so avoids payment.
(b) Suit may be filed for these penalties at any time before the expiration of the statute of limitations on an action for the wages from which the penalties arise.
(Amended by Stats. 2014, Ch. 210, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2015.)
203.1. If an employer pays an employee in the regular course of employment or in accordance with Section 201, 201.3, 201.5, 201.7, or 202 any wages or fringe benefits, or both, by check, draft or voucher, which check, draft or voucher is subsequently refused payment because the employer or maker has no account with the bank, institution, or person on which the instrument is drawn, or has insufficient funds in the account upon which the instrument is drawn at the time of its presentation, so long as the same is presented within 30 days of receipt by the employee of the check, draft or voucher, those wages or fringe benefits, or both, shall continue as a penalty from the due date thereof at the same rate until paid or until an action therefor is commenced. However, those wages and fringe benefits shall not continue for more than 30 days and this penalty shall not apply if the employer can establish to the satisfaction of the Labor Commissioner or an appropriate court of law that the violation of this section was unintentional. This penalty also shall not apply in any case in which an employee recovers the service charge authorized by Section 1719 of the Civil Code in an action brought by the employee thereunder.
(Amended by Stats. 2008, Ch. 169, Sec. 3. Effective January 1, 2009.)
203.5. (a) If a bonding company issuing a bond which secures the payment of wages for labor or the surety on a bond willfully fails to pay, without abatement or reduction, any verified claim made for wages found to be due and payable, the claim for wages shall continue as a penalty against the bonding company or surety from the date on which demand for payment was made at the same rate until paid as the wages upon which the claim is based, except that the claim shall not continue as a penalty for more than 30 days.
(b) This section shall not apply to contractor’s bonds required pursuant to Section 7071.6 of the Business and Professions Code.
(Amended by Stats. 1989, Ch. 1281, Sec. 1.)
204. (a) All wages, other than those mentioned in Section 201, 201.3, 202, 204.1, or 204.2, earned by any person in any employment are due and payable twice during each calendar month, on days designated in advance by the employer as the regular paydays. Labor performed between the 1st and 15th days, inclusive, of any calendar month shall be paid for between the 16th and the 26th day of the month during which the labor was performed, and labor performed between the 16th and the last day, inclusive, of any calendar month, shall be paid for between the 1st and 10th day of the following month. However, salaries of executive, administrative, and professional employees of employers covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act, as set forth pursuant to Section 13(a)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act, as amended through March 1, 1969, in Part 541 of Title 29 of the Code of Federal Regulations, as that part now reads or may be amended to read at any time hereafter, may be paid once a month on or before the 26th day of the month during which the labor was performed if the entire month’s salaries, including the unearned portion between the date of payment and the last day of the month, are paid at that time.
(b) (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, all wages earned for labor in excess of the normal work period shall be paid no later than the payday for the next regular payroll period.
(2) An employer is in compliance with the requirements of subdivision (a) of Section 226 relating to total hours worked by the employee, if hours worked in excess of the normal work period during the current pay period are itemized as corrections on the paystub for the next regular pay period. Any corrections set out in a subsequently issued paystub shall state the inclusive dates of the pay period for which the employer is correcting its initial report of hours worked.
(c) However, when employees are covered by a collective bargaining agreement that provides different pay arrangements, those arrangements shall apply to the covered employees.
(d) The requirements of this section shall be deemed satisfied by the payment of wages for weekly, biweekly, or semimonthly payroll if the wages are paid not more than seven calendar days following the close of the payroll period.
(Amended by Stats. 2008, Ch. 169, Sec. 4. Effective January 1, 2009.)
204a. When workers are engaged in an employment that normally involves working for several employers in the same industry interchangeably, and the several employers, or some of them, cooperate to establish a plan for the payment of wages at a central place or places and in accordance with a unified schedule of pay days, all the provisions of this chapter except 201, 202, and 208 shall apply. All such workers, including those who have been discharged and those who quit, shall receive their wages at such central place or places.
This section shall not apply to any such plan until 10 days after notice of their intention to set up such a plan shall have been given to the Labor Commissioner by the employers who cooperate to establish the plan. Having once been established, no such plan can be abandoned except after notice of their intention to abandon such plan has been given to the Labor Commissioner by the employers intending to abandon the plan.
(Added by Stats. 1941, Ch. 11.)
204b. Section 204 shall be inapplicable to employees paid on a weekly basis on a regular day designated by the employer in advance of the rendition of services as the regular payday.
Labor performed by a weekly-paid employee during any calendar week and prior to or on the regular payday shall be paid for not later than the regular payday of the employer for such weekly-paid employee falling during the following calendar week.
Labor performed by a weekly-paid employee during any calendar week and subsequent to the regular payday shall be paid for not later than seven days after the regular payday of the employer for such weekly-paid employee falling during the following calendar week.
(Added by Stats. 1959, Ch. 1564.)
204c. Section 204 shall be inapplicable to executive, administrative or professional employees who are not covered by any collective bargaining agreement, who are