Personal Liability For Wage Violations Now The Law In CA

California’s Fair Day’s Pay Act now provides that owners, directors, officers or managing agents of a business can be held personally liable for certain wage and hour violations. The California labor commissioner has stated she will be targeting employers who commit “wage theft,” a term that per the legislative history of this law is broadly defined. Notably, the law specifically addresses two types of businesses – property services and long-term care – and says that an entity that contracts for either of them becomes jointly and severally liable if wage theft then occurs. “Property services” included janitorial, security, valet, landscaping and gardening services. This post from Perkins Coie provides some details, along with some suggestions for how to stay on the right side of this law, which took effect in January.