California Labor Code ARTICLE 1 - General Occupations

• Section 200.
  As used in this article: (a) “Wages” includes all amounts for labor performed by employees of every description, whether the amount is fixed or ascertained...
• Section 200.5.
  (a) Notwithstanding any provision of this code or Section 340 of the Code of Civil Procedure, to collect a civil penalty, fee, or penalty fee under...
• Section 201.
  (a) If an employer discharges an employee, the wages earned and unpaid at the time of discharge are due and payable immediately. An employer who lays...
• Section 201.3.
  (a) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:(1) “Temporary services employer” means an employing unit that contracts with clients or customers to supply workers to...
• Section 201.5.
  (a) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:(1) “An employee engaged in the production or broadcasting of motion pictures” means an employee to whom both...
• Section 201.7.
  An employer who lays off an employee or a group of employees engaged in the business of oil drilling shall be deemed to have made...
• Section 201.9.
  Notwithstanding subdivision (a) of Section 201, if employees are employed at a venue that hosts live theatrical or concert events and are enrolled in and...
• Section 202.
  (a) If an employee not having a written contract for a definite period quits his or her employment, his or her wages shall become due and...
• Section 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...
• Section 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...
• Section 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,...
• Section 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...
• Section 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...
• Section 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...
• Section 204c.
  Section 204 shall be inapplicable to executive, administrative or professional employees who are not covered by any collective bargaining agreement, who are not subject to...
• Section 204.1.
  Commission wages paid to any person employed by an employer licensed as a vehicle dealer by the Department of Motor Vehicles are due and payable...
• Section 204.11.
  Commission wages paid to any employee who is licensed pursuant to the Barbering and Cosmetology Act (Chapter 10 (commencing with Section 7301) of Division 3...
• Section 204.2.
  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...
• Section 204.3.
  (a) An employee may receive, in lieu of overtime compensation, compensating time off at a rate of not less than one and one-half hours for each...
• Section 205.
  In agricultural, viticultural, and horticultural pursuits, in stock or poultry raising, and in household domestic service, when the employees in such employments are boarded and...
• Section 205.5.
  All wages, other than those mentioned in Sections 201 and 202, earned by any agricultural employee, as defined in Section 1140.4, are due and payable...
• Section 206.
  (a) In case of a dispute over wages, the employer shall pay, without condition and within the time set by this article, all wages, or parts...
• Section 206.5.
  (a) An employer shall not require the execution of a release of a claim or right on account of wages due, or to become due, or...
• Section 207.
  Every employer shall keep posted conspicuously at the place of work, if practicable, or otherwise where it can be seen as employees come or go...
• Section 208.
  Every employee who is discharged shall be paid at the place of discharge, and every employee who quits shall be paid at the office or...
• Section 209.
  In the event of any strike, the unpaid wages earned by striking employees shall become due and payable on the next regular pay day, and...
• Section 210.
  (a) In addition to, and entirely independent and apart from, any other penalty provided in this article, every person who fails to pay the wages of...
• Section 211.
  When action to recover such penalties is brought, no court costs shall be payable by the state or the division. Any sheriff or marshal who...
• Section 212.
  (a) No person, or agent or officer thereof, shall issue in payment of wages due, or to become due, or as an advance on wages to...
• Section 213.
  Nothing contained in Section 212 shall:(a) Prohibit an employer from guaranteeing the payment of bills incurred by an employee for the necessaries of life or for...
• Section 214.
  Prosecution under section 212 may be brought either at the place where the alleged illegal order, check, draft, note, memorandum or other acknowledgment of wage...
• Section 215.
  Any person, or the agent, manager, superintendent or officer thereof, who violates any provision of Section 201.3, 204, 204b, 205, 207, 208, 209, or 212...
• Section 216.
  In addition to any other penalty imposed by this article, any person, or an agent, manager, superintendent, or officer thereof is guilty of a misdemeanor,...
• Section 217.
  The Division of Labor Law Enforcement shall inquire diligently for any violations of this article, and, in cases which it deems proper, shall institute the...
• Section 218.
  Nothing in this article shall limit the authority of the district attorney of any county or prosecuting attorney of any city to prosecute actions, either...
• Section 218.5.
  (a) In any action brought for the nonpayment of wages, fringe benefits, or health and welfare or pension fund contributions, the court shall award reasonable attorney’s...
• Section 218.6.
  In any action brought for the nonpayment of wages, the court shall award interest on all due and unpaid wages at the rate of interest...
• Section 218.7.
  (a) (1) For contracts entered into on or after January 1, 2018, a direct contractor making or taking a contract in the state for the erection, construction,...
• Section 219.
  (a) Nothing in this article shall in any way limit or prohibit the payment of wages at more frequent intervals, or in greater amounts, or in...
• Section 220.
  (a) Sections 201.3, 201.5, 201.7, 203.1, 203.5, 204, 204a, 204b, 204c, 204.1, 205, and 205.5 do not apply to the payment of wages of employees directly...
• Section 220.2.
  Contributions to vacation allowances, pension or retirement funds, sick leave, and health and welfare benefits on behalf of persons employed by any county, political subdivision,...
• Section 221.
  It shall be unlawful for any employer to collect or receive from an employee any part of wages theretofore paid by said employer to said...
• Section 222.
  It shall be unlawful, in case of any wage agreement arrived at through collective bargaining, either wilfully or unlawfully or with intent to defraud an...
• Section 222.5.
  No person shall withhold or deduct from the compensation of any employee, or require any prospective employee or applicant for employment to pay, any fee...
• Section 223.
  Where any statute or contract requires an employer to maintain the designated wage scale, it shall be unlawful to secretly pay a lower wage while...
• Section 224.
  The provisions of Sections 221, 222 and 223 shall in no way make it unlawful for an employer to withhold or divert any portion of...
• Section 225.
  The violation of any provision of Sections 221, 222, 222.5, or 223 is a misdemeanor.(Amended by Stats. 1945, Ch. 1191.)
• Section 225.5.
  In addition to, and entirely independent and apart from, any other penalty provided in this article, every person who unlawfully withholds wages due any employee...
• Section 226.
  (a) An employer, semimonthly or at the time of each payment of wages, shall furnish to his or her employee, either as a detachable part of...
• Section 226.1.
  The requirements of item (9) of subdivision (a) of Section 226, with respect to a temporary services employer, do not apply to a security services...
• Section 226.2.
  This section shall apply for employees who are compensated on a piece-rate basis for any work performed during a pay period. This section shall not...
• Section 226.2.a.
  This section shall apply for employees who are compensated on a piece-rate basis for any work performed during a pay period. This section shall not...
• Section 226.3.
  Any employer who violates subdivision (a) of Section 226 shall be subject to a civil penalty in the amount of two hundred fifty dollars ($250)...
• Section 226.4.
  If, upon inspection or investigation, the Labor Commissioner determines that an employer is in violation of subdivision (a) of Section 226, the Labor Commissioner may...
• Section 226.5.
  (a) If a person desires to contest a citation or the proposed assessment of a civil penalty therefor, he or she shall within 15 business days...
• Section 226.6.
  Any employer who knowingly and intentionally violates the provisions of Section 226, or any officer, agent, employee, fiduciary, or other person who has the control,...
• Section 226.7.
  (a) As used in this section, “recovery period” means a cooldown period afforded an employee to prevent heat illness.(b) An employer shall not require an employee to...
• Section 226.8.
  (a) It is unlawful for any person or employer to engage in any of the following activities:(1) Willful misclassification of an individual as an independent contractor.(2) Charging an...
• Section 227.
  If an employer has made withholdings from an employee’s wages pursuant to state, local, or federal law, or has agreed with any employee to make...
• Section 227.3.
  Unless otherwise provided by a collective-bargaining agreement, whenever a contract of employment or employer policy provides for paid vacations, and an employee is terminated without...
• Section 227.5.
  Whenever an employer has agreed with any employee to make payments to a health or welfare fund, pension fund or vacation plan, or such other...
• Section 228.
  The payments under Section 227 of this code shall be deemed to include payments to apprenticeship funds.This amendment is hereby declared to be merely a...
• Section 229.
  Actions to enforce the provisions of this article for the collection of due and unpaid wages claimed by an individual may be maintained without regard...
• Section 230.
  (a) An employer shall not discharge or in any manner discriminate against an employee for taking time off to serve as required by law on an...
• Section 230.1.
  (a) In addition to the requirements and prohibitions imposed on employees pursuant to Section 230, an employer with 25 or more employees shall not discharge, or...
• Section 230.2.
  (a) As used in this section:(1) “Immediate family member” means spouse, child, stepchild, brother, stepbrother, sister, stepsister, mother, stepmother, father, or stepfather.(2) “Registered domestic partner” means a domestic...
• Section 230.3.
  (a) An employer shall not discharge or in any manner discriminate against an employee for taking time off to perform emergency duty as a volunteer firefighter,...
• Section 230.4.
  (a) An employee who performs duty as a volunteer firefighter, a reserve peace officer, or as emergency rescue personnel, as defined in Section 230.3, and who...
• Section 230.5.
  (a) (1) An employer shall not discharge or in any manner discriminate or retaliate against an employee who is a victim of an offense listed in paragraph...
• Section 230.7.
  (a) No employer shall discharge or in any manner discriminate against an employee who is the parent or guardian of a pupil for taking time off...
• Section 230.8.
  (a) (1) An employer who employs 25 or more employees working at the same location shall not discharge or in any way discriminate against an employee who...
• Section 231.
  Any employer who requires, as a condition of employment, that an employee have a driver’s license shall pay the cost of any physical examination of...
• Section 232.
  No employer may do any of the following:(a) Require, as a condition of employment, that an employee refrain from disclosing the amount of his or her...
• Section 232.5.
  No employer may do any of the following:(a) Require, as a condition of employment, that an employee refrain from disclosing information about the employer’s working conditions.(b) Require...
• Section 233.
  (a) Any employer who provides sick leave for employees shall permit an employee to use in any calendar year the employee’s accrued and available sick leave...
• Section 234.
  An employer absence control policy that counts sick leave taken pursuant to Section 233 as an absence that may lead to or result in discipline,...
• Section 238.
  (a) If a final judgment against an employer arising from the employer’s nonpayment of wages for work performed in this state remains unsatisfied after a period...
• Section 238.1.
  (a) Where an employer is conducting business in violation of Section 238, the Labor Commissioner may issue and serve on that employer a stop order prohibiting...
• Section 238.2.
  (a) The Labor Commissioner may create a lien on any real property in California of an employer, or a successor employer pursuant to subdivision (e) of...
• Section 238.3.
  (a) The Labor Commissioner may create a lien on any personal property in California of an employer that conducts business in violation of Section 238 for...
• Section 238.4.
  (a) If an employer in the long-term care industry that is also required to obtain a license from the State Department of Public Health or the...
• Section 238.5.
  (a) (1) Any individual or business entity, regardless of its form, that, as part of its business, contracts for services in the property services or long-term care...
• Section 240.
  (a) If any employer has been convicted of a violation of any provision of this article, or if any judgment against an employer for nonpayment of...
• Section 243.
  (a) If, within 10 years of either a conviction for a violation of this article or failing to satisfy a judgment for nonpayment of wages, or...
• Section 244.
  (a) An individual is not required to exhaust administrative remedies or procedures in order to bring a civil action under any provision of this code, unless...

Last modified: October 22, 2018