The California’s Governor has signed Assembly Bill 1003, concerning wage theft by employer, into law on September 28, 2021. The highlights of the new legislation are:
- The legislation creates a new offence for the intentional theft of wages by an employer, punishable as either a felony or a misdemeanor.
- The legislation creates a new type of grand theft for the intentional theft of wages in an amount greater than $950 from any one employee, or $2,350 in the aggregate from two or more employees by an employer in any consecutive 12-month period.
- The new legislation allows wages, tips, or other compensation that are the subject of a prosecution to be recovered as restitution.
- The grand theft is punishable either as a misdemeanor by imprisonment in a county jail for up to 1 year or as a felony by imprisonment in county jail for 16 months or 2 or 3 years, by a specified fine, or by a fine and that imprisonment.
*Tanvi Singh, Editorial Assistant has reported this brief.
