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	<ns0:Description>
		<ns0:Id>20250SB__026192CHP</ns0:Id>
		<ns0:VersionNum>92</ns0:VersionNum>
		<ns0:History>
			<ns0:Action>
				<ns0:ActionText>INTRODUCED</ns0:ActionText>
				<ns0:ActionDate>2025-02-03</ns0:ActionDate>
			</ns0:Action>
			<ns0:Action>
				<ns0:ActionText>AMENDED_SENATE</ns0:ActionText>
				<ns0:ActionDate>2025-03-17</ns0:ActionDate>
			</ns0:Action>
			<ns0:Action>
				<ns0:ActionText>AMENDED_SENATE</ns0:ActionText>
				<ns0:ActionDate>2025-03-27</ns0:ActionDate>
			</ns0:Action>
			<ns0:Action>
				<ns0:ActionText>AMENDED_SENATE</ns0:ActionText>
				<ns0:ActionDate>2025-04-10</ns0:ActionDate>
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			<ns0:Action>
				<ns0:ActionText>AMENDED_SENATE</ns0:ActionText>
				<ns0:ActionDate>2025-05-23</ns0:ActionDate>
			</ns0:Action>
			<ns0:Action>
				<ns0:ActionText>AMENDED_ASSEMBLY</ns0:ActionText>
				<ns0:ActionDate>2025-09-02</ns0:ActionDate>
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			<ns0:Action>
				<ns0:ActionText>PASSED_ASSEMBLY</ns0:ActionText>
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				<ns0:ActionText>PASSED_SENATE</ns0:ActionText>
				<ns0:ActionDate>2025-09-09</ns0:ActionDate>
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			<ns0:Action>
				<ns0:ActionText>ENROLLED</ns0:ActionText>
				<ns0:ActionDate>2025-09-12</ns0:ActionDate>
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			<ns0:Action>
				<ns0:ActionText>CHAPTERED</ns0:ActionText>
				<ns0:ActionDate>2025-10-13</ns0:ActionDate>
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			<ns0:Action>
				<ns0:ActionText>APPROVED</ns0:ActionText>
				<ns0:ActionDate>2025-10-13</ns0:ActionDate>
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			<ns0:Action>
				<ns0:ActionText>FILED</ns0:ActionText>
				<ns0:ActionDate>2025-10-13</ns0:ActionDate>
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		<ns0:LegislativeInfo>
			<ns0:SessionYear>2025</ns0:SessionYear>
			<ns0:SessionNum>0</ns0:SessionNum>
			<ns0:MeasureType>SB</ns0:MeasureType>
			<ns0:MeasureNum>261</ns0:MeasureNum>
			<ns0:MeasureState>CHP</ns0:MeasureState>
			<ns0:ChapterYear>2025</ns0:ChapterYear>
			<ns0:ChapterType>CHP</ns0:ChapterType>
			<ns0:ChapterSessionNum>0</ns0:ChapterSessionNum>
			<ns0:ChapterNum>747</ns0:ChapterNum>
		</ns0:LegislativeInfo>
		<ns0:AuthorText authorType="LEAD_AUTHOR">Introduced by Senators Wahab and Wiener</ns0:AuthorText>
		<ns0:AuthorText authorType="COAUTHOR_ORIGINATING">(Coauthor: Senator Cortese)</ns0:AuthorText>
		<ns0:AuthorText authorType="COAUTHOR_OPPOSITE">(Coauthor: Assembly Member Kalra)</ns0:AuthorText>
		<ns0:Authors>
			<ns0:Legislator>
				<ns0:Contribution>LEAD_AUTHOR</ns0:Contribution>
				<ns0:House>SENATE</ns0:House>
				<ns0:Name>Wahab</ns0:Name>
			</ns0:Legislator>
			<ns0:Legislator>
				<ns0:Contribution>LEAD_AUTHOR</ns0:Contribution>
				<ns0:House>SENATE</ns0:House>
				<ns0:Name>Wiener</ns0:Name>
			</ns0:Legislator>
			<ns0:Legislator>
				<ns0:Contribution>COAUTHOR</ns0:Contribution>
				<ns0:House>SENATE</ns0:House>
				<ns0:Name>Cortese</ns0:Name>
			</ns0:Legislator>
			<ns0:Legislator>
				<ns0:Contribution>COAUTHOR</ns0:Contribution>
				<ns0:House>ASSEMBLY</ns0:House>
				<ns0:Name>Kalra</ns0:Name>
			</ns0:Legislator>
		</ns0:Authors>
		<ns0:Title>An act to amend Section 98.2 of, and to add Sections 238.05 and 238.10 to, the Labor Code, relating to employment. </ns0:Title>
		<ns0:RelatingClause>employment</ns0:RelatingClause>
		<ns0:GeneralSubject>
			<ns0:Subject>Division of Labor Standards Enforcement: orders, decisions, and awards.</ns0:Subject>
		</ns0:GeneralSubject>
		<ns0:DigestText>
			<html:p>Existing law establishes the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, under the direction of the Labor Commissioner, within the Department of Industrial Relations and sets forth its powers and duties regarding the enforcement of labor laws. Existing law authorizes the commissioner to investigate employee complaints and to provide for a hearing in any action to recover wages, penalties, and other demands for compensation, as specified.</html:p>
			<html:p>Existing law provides that the judgment creditor, or the commissioner, as assignee of the judgment creditor, is entitled to court costs and reasonable attorney’s fees for enforcing the judgment, as specified.</html:p>
			<html:p>This bill would instead require that the judgment creditor, or the Labor Commissioner or public prosecutor as assignee of the judgment creditor, be awarded the above-described court costs and reasonable attorney’s fees.</html:p>
			<html:p> Existing law provides for enforcement if a final judgment against an employer arising from the employer’s
			 nonpayment of wages for work performed in this state remains unsatisfied after specified periods of time, including prohibiting the employer from conducting business in the state, as specified, if a final judgment against the employer remains unsatisfied for 30 days.</html:p>
			<html:p>This bill would additionally require the judgment debtor to be subject to a civil penalty not to exceed 3 times the outstanding judgment amount if a final judgment arising from the nonpayment of work performed in this state remains unsatisfied after a period of 180 days, as provided. The bill would require a
			 court to award a prevailing plaintiff all reasonable attorney’s fees and costs in any action brought by a judgment creditor, the commissioner, or a public prosecutor to enforce a final judgment arising from the nonpayment of wages, penalties, or other amounts owed arising from work performed in this state, as provided.</html:p>
			<html:p>This bill would also make findings and declarations related to its provisions.</html:p>
		</ns0:DigestText>
		<ns0:DigestKey>
			<ns0:VoteRequired>MAJORITY</ns0:VoteRequired>
			<ns0:Appropriation>NO</ns0:Appropriation>
			<ns0:FiscalCommittee>YES</ns0:FiscalCommittee>
			<ns0:LocalProgram>NO</ns0:LocalProgram>
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			<ns0:ImmediateEffect>NO</ns0:ImmediateEffect>
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				<ns0:Urgency>NO</ns0:Urgency>
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	<ns0:Bill id="bill">
		<ns0:Preamble>The people of the State of California do enact as follows:</ns0:Preamble>
		<ns0:BillSection id="id_05A63B99-DAE4-4FD3-B7E5-BED44EDE8F42">
			<ns0:Num>SECTION 1.</ns0:Num>
			<ns0:Content>
				<html:p>
					(a)
					<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
					The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
				</html:p>
				<html:p>
					(1)
					<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
					The full and prompt payment of wages due to workers is, and has long been, a fundamental public policy of this state. Vindication of this policy, including, where necessary, through effective enforcement, is critical to ensuring that California’s economy is vibrant and equitable for all Californians. The failure to timely pay all wages due robs the individual workers of what they have earned, and also harms the public at large, including by placing additional burdens on public services and unfairly disadvantaging businesses that comply with the law.
				</html:p>
				<html:p>
					(2)
					<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
					Wage theft is a pervasive issue statewide, especially for low-income workers. A report from Rutgers University estimated that in four of California’s largest metropolitan areas, employers unlawfully failed to pay low-wage workers $2.3 to $4.6 billion in earned wages each year between 2014 and 2023. Studies, including by the Economic Policy Institute, also show that workers lose far more through wage theft than retailers lose through shoplifting, drivers lose through carjacking, or residents lose through burglaries.
				</html:p>
				<html:p>
					(3)
					<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
					Provisions of the Labor Code and Civil Code that allow collection of simple interest for nonpayment of a judgment are inadequate to deter prospective violators and ensure workers are promptly paid the judgments they are owed.
				</html:p>
				<html:p>
					(4)
					<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
					The Labor Code and Business and Professions Code authorize public prosecutors to pursue actions against employers based on their failure to satisfy wage theft judgments, and those public prosecutors’ efforts complement and augment preexisting efforts to enforce wage theft judgments. 
				</html:p>
				<html:p>
					(b)
					<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
					Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature to provide additional tools to enhance enforcement and collection of wage judgments to ensure workers who are victims of wage theft are paid in a timely manner, consistent with public
				policy of this state.
				</html:p>
			</ns0:Content>
		</ns0:BillSection>
		<ns0:BillSection id="id_1F804EE0-F718-4B79-885F-6F8072F4681C">
			<ns0:Num>SEC. 2.</ns0:Num>
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				Section 98.2 of the 
				<ns0:DocName>Labor Code</ns0:DocName>
				 is amended to read:
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					<ns0:Num>98.2.</ns0:Num>
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						<ns0:Content>
							<html:p>
								(a)
								<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
								Within 10 days after service of notice of an order, decision, or award, the parties may seek review by filing an appeal to the superior court, where the appeal shall be heard de novo. The court shall charge the first paper filing fee under Section 70611 of the Government Code to the party seeking review. The fee shall be distributed as provided in Section 68085.3 of the Government Code. A copy of the appeal request shall be served upon the Labor Commissioner by the appellant. For purposes of computing the 10-day period after service, Section 1013 of the Code of Civil Procedure is applicable.
							</html:p>
							<html:p>
								(b)
								<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
								As a condition to filing an appeal pursuant to this section, an employer shall first
						post an undertaking with the reviewing court in the amount of the order, decision, or award. The undertaking shall consist of an appeal bond issued by a licensed surety or a cash deposit with the court in the amount of the order, decision, or award. The employer shall provide written notification to the other parties and the Labor Commissioner of the posting of the undertaking. The undertaking shall be on the condition that, if any judgment is entered in favor of the employee, the employer shall pay the amount owed pursuant to the judgment, and if the appeal is withdrawn or dismissed without entry of judgment, the employer shall pay the amount owed pursuant to the order, decision, or award of the Labor Commissioner unless the parties have executed a settlement agreement for payment of some other amount, in which case the employer shall pay the amount that the employer is obligated to pay under the
						terms of the settlement agreement. If the employer fails to pay the amount owed within 10 days of entry of the judgment, dismissal, or withdrawal of the appeal, or the execution of a settlement agreement, a portion of the undertaking equal to the amount owed, or the entire undertaking if the amount owed exceeds the undertaking, is forfeited to the employee.
							</html:p>
							<html:p>
								(c)
								<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
								If the party seeking review by filing an appeal to the superior court is unsuccessful in the appeal, the court shall determine the costs and reasonable attorney’s fees incurred by the other parties to the appeal, and assess that amount as a cost upon the party filing the appeal. An employee is successful if the court awards an amount greater than zero.
							</html:p>
							<html:p>
								(d)
								<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
								If no notice of appeal of the order, decision, or award is filed within
						the period set forth in subdivision (a), the order, decision, or award shall, in the absence of fraud, be deemed the final order.
							</html:p>
							<html:p>
								(e)
								<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
								The Labor Commissioner shall file, within 10 days of the order becoming final pursuant to subdivision (d), a certified copy of the final order with the clerk of the superior court of the appropriate county unless a settlement has been reached by the parties and approved by the Labor Commissioner. Judgment shall be entered immediately by the court clerk in conformity therewith. The judgment so entered has the same force and effect as, and is subject to all of the provisions of law relating to, a judgment in a civil action, and may be enforced in the same manner as any other judgment of the court in which it is entered. Enforcement of the judgment shall receive court priority.
							</html:p>
							<html:p>
								(f)
								<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
								(1)
								<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
								In order to ensure that judgments are satisfied, the Labor Commissioner may serve upon the judgment debtor, personally or by first-class mail at the last known address of the judgment debtor listed with the division, a form similar to, and requiring the reporting of the same information as, the form approved or adopted by the Judicial Council for purposes of subdivision (a) of Section 116.830 of the Code of Civil Procedure to assist in identifying the nature and location of any assets of the judgment debtor.
							</html:p>
							<html:p>
								(2)
								<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
								The judgment debtor shall complete the form and cause it to be delivered to the division at the address listed on the form within 35 days after the form has been served on the judgment debtor, unless the judgment has been satisfied. In the case of a willful failure by the judgment debtor to comply
						with this subdivision, the division or the judgment creditor may request the court to apply the sanctions provided in Section 708.170 of the Code of Civil Procedure.
							</html:p>
							<html:p>
								(g)
								<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
								(1)
								<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
								As an alternative to a judgment lien, upon the order becoming final pursuant to subdivision (d), a lien on real property may be created by the Labor Commissioner recording a certificate of lien, for amounts due under the final order and in favor of the employee or employees named in the order, with the county recorder of any county in which the employer’s real property may be located, at the Labor Commissioner’s discretion and depending upon information the Labor Commissioner obtains concerning the employer’s assets. The lien attaches to all interests in real property of the employer located in the county where the lien is created to which a
						judgment lien may attach pursuant to Section 697.340 of the Code of Civil Procedure.
							</html:p>
							<html:p>
								(2)
								<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
								The certificate of lien shall include information as prescribed by Section 27288.1 of the Government Code.
							</html:p>
							<html:p>
								(3)
								<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
								The recorder shall accept and record the certificate of lien and shall index it as prescribed by law.
							</html:p>
							<html:p>
								(4)
								<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
								Upon payment of the amount due under the final order, the Labor Commissioner shall issue a certificate of release, releasing the lien created under paragraph (1). The certificate of release may be recorded by the employer at the employer’s expense.
							</html:p>
							<html:p>
								(5)
								<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
								Unless the lien is satisfied or released, a lien under this section shall continue until 10 years from the date of
						its creation.
							</html:p>
							<html:p>
								(h)
								<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
								Notwithstanding subdivision (e), the Labor Commissioner may stay execution of any judgment entered upon an order, decision, or award that has become final upon good cause appearing therefor and may impose the terms and conditions of the stay of execution. A certified copy of the stay of execution shall be filed with the clerk entering the judgment.
							</html:p>
							<html:p>
								(i)
								<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
								When a judgment is satisfied in fact, other than by execution, the Labor Commissioner may, upon the motion of either party or on its own motion, order entry of satisfaction of judgment. The clerk of the court shall enter a satisfaction of judgment upon the filing of a certified copy of the order.
							</html:p>
							<html:p>
								(j)
								<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
								The Labor Commissioner shall make every reasonable
						effort to ensure that judgments are satisfied, including taking all appropriate legal action and requiring the employer to deposit a bond as provided in Section 240.
							</html:p>
							<html:p>
								(k)
								<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
								The judgment creditor, or the Labor Commissioner or a public prosecutor, as defined in Section 180, as assignee of the judgment creditor, shall be awarded court costs and reasonable attorney’s fees for enforcing the judgment that is rendered pursuant to this section.
							</html:p>
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		<ns0:BillSection id="id_FAB9407D-25C4-4EB2-9E6F-28DDF7BAE929">
			<ns0:Num>SEC. 3.</ns0:Num>
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				Section 238.05 is added to the 
				<ns0:DocName>Labor Code</ns0:DocName>
				, to read:
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				<ns0:LawSection id="id_4EF99B70-EA12-479E-92B7-B7F1A717C6F6">
					<ns0:Num>238.05.</ns0:Num>
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						<ns0:Content>
							<html:p>
								(a)
								<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
								If a final judgment arising from nonpayment of wages for work performed in this state remains unsatisfied after a period of 180 days after the time to appeal therefrom has expired and no appeal therefrom is pending, the judgment debtor shall be subject to a civil penalty not to exceed three times the outstanding judgment amount, including postjudgment interest
						then due, provided that a judgment debtor shall not be subject to a penalty under this subdivision if the judgment debtor reaches an accord described in subdivision (b) of Section 238 before the 180th day and then remains in full compliance with the accord until its full satisfaction. The court may assess this penalty in any action brought to enforce the judgment or to otherwise induce compliance by or impose lawful consequences on a judgment debtor.
							</html:p>
							<html:p>
								(b)
								<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
								In any action brought to
						enforce the judgment or to otherwise induce compliance by or impose lawful consequences on a judgment debtor, the court shall assess against the judgment debtor the entire amount of the requested penalty except to the extent that the court finds that the judgment debtor has demonstrated by clear and convincing evidence good cause to reduce the amount of the penalty.
							</html:p>
							<html:p>
								(c)
								<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
								Penalties assessed by a court pursuant to this section shall be distributed as follows:
							</html:p>
							<html:p>
								(1)
								<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
								Fifty percent to the employee or employees in whose favor the judgment was rendered, shared proportionally according to the amount due to each employee in the judgment entered in superior court.
							</html:p>
							<html:p>
								(2)
								<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
								Fifty percent to the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement for enforcement of labor laws, including the administration of this part, and for education of employers and employees about their rights and responsibilities under this code, upon appropriation, to supplement and not supplant the funding to the division for those purposes.
							</html:p>
							<html:p>
								(d)
								<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
								A successor to a judgment debtor, as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 200.3 or by any other law, shall be jointly and severally liable for penalties assessed pursuant to this section.
							</html:p>
							<html:p>
								(e)
								<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
								Penalties assessed pursuant to this section shall be in addition to any other penalties or fines permitted by law.
							</html:p>
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			<ns0:Num>SEC. 4.</ns0:Num>
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				Section 238.10 is added to the 
				<ns0:DocName>Labor Code</ns0:DocName>
				, immediately following Section 238.05, to read:
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					<ns0:Num>238.10.</ns0:Num>
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							<html:p>The court shall award a prevailing plaintiff all reasonable attorney’s fees and costs in any action brought by a judgment creditor, the Labor Commissioner, or a public prosecutor, as defined in Section 180, to enforce a final judgment arising from the nonpayment of wages, penalties, or other amounts owed arising from work performed in this state, or to otherwise induce compliance by or
						impose lawful consequences on a judgment debtor for nonsatisfaction of a final judgment arising from the
						nonpayment of wages, penalties, or other amounts owed arising from work performed in this state.</html:p>
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