Page 161 - An Indispensible Resource for Being a Credible Activist

vide public notice of the proposed closure, including a notice posted at the entrance to all
affected facilities, and shall also notify the board of supervisors of the county in which the
health facility is located. In addition, an impact statement reflecting the changes in the deliv-
ery of care to the community must (1) specify how the elimination of services will be met
by other existing agencies and (2) describe the three nearest available comparable services
in the community.
Prevailing wages. Under existing law, the State labor commissioner is required to issue
civil wage and penalty assessments to a contractor, a subcontractor, or both if, after an in-
vestigation, it is determined that the contractor or subcontractor violated the laws regulat-
ing public-works contracts and the payment of prevailing wages. The affected contractor can
obtain a review of a civil wage and penalty assessment by transmitting a written request for
a hearing to the office of the State labor commissioner within 60 days after receiving the
assessment. A hearing officer or an administrative law judge must then commence a hear-
ing within 90 days of receipt of the request. This legislation continues to require a hearing
officer to hold the hearings, but, after January 1, 2009, does not require that the hearing of-
ficer be an administrative law judge. Further, the contractor or subcontractor may deposit
the full amount of the assessment with the State Department of Industrial Relations, for that
agency to hold in escrow pending review by the office of the labor commissioner. The direc-
tor of the Department of Industrial Relations is authorized to waive payment of liquidated
damages, or any portion thereof, if the contractor demonstrates that there were substantial
grounds for its appeal.
Wages paid. The State Labor Code was amended to require that employees of tempo-
rary-service employers be paid weekly or daily wages if an employee is assigned to a client.
The code does not apply to employees who are assigned to a client for more than 90
consecutive days, unless the employer pays the employee weekly. The code applies civil and
criminal penalties of $100 for an initial violation and $200, plus 25 percent of the amount
unlawfully withheld, for each subsequent violation. An employer who fails to pay any
wages of an employee who is discharged or who has quit the company will be required to
continue to pay the regular wages of that employee until action is commenced as a penalty
or for no more than 30 days. Employees who refuse to receive payment, including any
penalty accrued, won’t be entitled to receive any benefits under the bill. Salaries of execu-
tive, administrative, and professional employees of employers covered by the Fair Labor
Standards Act 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 por-
tion between the date of payment and the last day of the month, are paid at that time.
Employees covered by collective-bargaining agreements will be paid according to their spec-
ified pay arrangements. It shall be considered a misdemeanor for an employer to require an
employee, as a condition of being paid, to execute a statement of the hours the employee
may have worked during a pay period when the employer knows the statement to be false.
This statement, called an execution of release, is a way for the employer to have a record of
paying the employee in advance for work not yet actually done. An employer shall not
require any such execution of release unless the wages have been paid. A violation of this
law shall render the execution of release null and void between the employer and the
employee.

144 The H R Toolkit