Existing law makes it a crime for an employer to willfully, or with the intent to defraud, fail to remit agreed-upon payments to health and welfare funds, pension funds or vacation plans, or other various benefit plans. The crime is a felony where the amount the employer fails to remit exceeds $500. All other violations are punishable as a misdemeanor.

Senate Bill 390 amends this provision of Labor Code section 227, making it a crime for an employer to fail to remit withholdings from an employee's wages that were made pursuant to state, local, or federal law, for example, for taxes. The new law also provides for any recovered withholdings to be forwarded to the appropriate plan or fund and for any restitution obtained in the criminal proceeding to be paid to the agency, entity, or person to whom it is owed.