One of many laws enacted recently by the California Legislature was Assembly Bill 469, known as the Wage Theft Prevention Act of 2011. This legislation added or revised various provisions of the California Labor Code, effective January 1, 2012. Changes in the law included an increase in the statute of limitations for penalties available under the Labor Code, an increase to the amount of time employers will be required to retain employee payroll records from two to three years, and potential criminal liabilities against employers who willfully refuse to pay a final court judgment or order to pay wages due, among others.

The legislation also enacted Labor Code section 2810.5, which requires employers to provide all non-exempt employees with a written notice, at time of hire, identifying certain information such as the employee’s rate of pay and its basis, whether by hour, day, commission, salary or otherwise, and all rates for overtime, if applicable, among other information. The information required to be given to new employees has been detailed in my article, “New Written Notice Required to New Employees in 2012,” available on my webpage www.wendel.com/dgoldman.

Please see full alert below for more information.