California Labor Code: Divisions, Laws, and Employee Rights Overview

California Labor Code overview covering divisions, employee rights, workplace safety, workers’ compensation, and enforcement across key industries. Trace major milestones, landmark cases, and updates that shape employer obligations and protections for California workers today.

By Douglas Wade, Attorney

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. Divisions of the California Labor Code

Introduction

Formally referred to as “the Labor Code,” the California Labor Code is a body of civil law statutes that apply to the State of California. The code consists of statutes that regulate the broad rights and obligations of individuals under California jurisdiction. The Department of Industrial Relations’ declared mission is to improve the well-being of California’s wage workers, enhance their conditions of work, and expand their prospects for rewarding employment.

The Labor Code is devoted to labor laws, but there are parallels between its provisions and those of the Government Code and other codifications, including the Insurance Code, Family Code, and the Government Code. You may read the Labor Code in English. Pre-recorded informational phone lines in Spanish and English that address often asked questions are maintained by the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement.

Divisions of the California Labor Code

Industrial Relations Department: Division 1

The California Department of Industrial Relations’ function and operating guidelines are covered in this division. Fostering, advancing, and developing the needs of California’s workers, as well as improving their working conditions and employment prospects, is one of the Department’s core responsibilities.

Employment Regulation & Supervision: Division 2

This division oversees the wage and employment conditions of employees, their hours worked, their immunities and privileges, agricultural labor relationships, talent agency licensing, government departments and government agencies, unemployment benefits in the public sector, car washes, hygienic and health conditions in the workplace, industrial homework, clothing manufacturing, sheepherding, and private attorneys’ broad operations.

Employment Relations: Division 3

The employer-employee relationship, employment contract, employee responsibilities, employee inventions, termination of work, and employee investigations are all governed by this division.

Workers’ Compensation & Insurance: Division 4

Employee compensation insurance and compensation for private employer employees hurt on the job are governed under Division 4. Due to extensive litigation between workers and their employers on the meaning of the provisions in Division 4, this Division has a sizable body of legal precedent.

The Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board, which acquired the adjudicatory duties of the Industrial Accident Commission, hears workers’ compensation cases in California in accordance with the processes outlined in Part 4 (Division 4). Because it was insufficient to hear every issue directly when it was first established, the IAC hired referees to hold proceedings in its name and then restricted its scope to reviewing appeals of those referees’ rulings.

In a similar vein, the Division of Workers’ Compensation (part of the Department of Industrial Relations) now has hearing offices run by the WCAB, which selects workers’ compensation magistrates to do proceedings in its name. Unless an employee files a “motion for reconsideration” (i.e., requesting that the Board reexamine the judge’s judgment on its behalf), the workers’ compensation courts’ final decisions automatically become actions of the WCAB itself.

Workers of the State Not Otherwise Protected: Division 4.5 of Workers’ Compensation & Insurance

This Division oversees workers’ compensation protection and compensation for state employees who are hurt on the job.

Retraining & Rehabilitation: Division 4.7

When a state employee is hurt and could benefit from rehabilitation treatments and retraining for alternative public service roles, this division controls the referral process.

Safety & Employment: Division 5

Workplace safety regulations are governed by this division. The legal authority for the Division of Occupational Safety & Health comes from this division. Almost all elevators across California are inspected as part of DOSH’s many duties.

History

1911

1911 saw the establishment of a voluntary compensation for workers scheme. Additionally, an article on workmen’s compensation was incorporated into the state’s constitution. California’s Workmen’s Compensation, Insurance & Safety Act (1913) was the state’s first worker protection law.

1937

The Labor Code was approved by Governor Frank Merriam on 24^th April 1937, and went into force on 27^th August. Division V was modeled after the legislation of 1913 & 1917. The Industrial Accident Commission was given the authority to safeguard employees who operated in dangerous environments with the introduction of Section 6508. Particular safety sections were introduced for buildings, railroads, mines, ships, and watercraft. The De Havilland Regulation was reclassified from the previous Civil Code to the Labor Code and is now more well-known due to a particular court interpretation.

1945

The “Workmen’s Safety” portions of the Labor Code were administered by the Division of Industrial Safety. It is among the 8 divisions that make up the Department of Industrial Relations (California). The addition of Section 6604 in 1949 made it illegal to fire workers for refusing to work under dangerous conditions. Employers who failed to offer a safe workplace and caused an employee’s death might face a maximum of five thousand dollars in fines or a year in the county jail. This is under Section 6416 (enacted in 1963).

1970

In 1970, Congress established the Occupational Safety & Health Act, which gave states the authority to create their own plans. California’s plan was turned in on 27^th September 1972. Later, Assembly Bill 150, also known as the California Occupational Safety & Health Act (1973), became law. The Sylmar Tunnel explosion in 1971 made people more aware of the Labor Code’s efficacy.

The Mine Safety Act and the Tom Carrell Memorial Tunnel were passed in 1972. It expanded the Labor Code’s Division V to include “tunnel & Mine Safety.” A highway bridge near Pasadena fell on 16^th October 1972. Hearings took place. 23^rd January 1973 saw the introduction of AB 150. It was submitted as an urgent law.

1975

Three legislation with differing views on the same topics were introduced after Cesar Chavez’s friend Jerry Brown was elected governor of California: AB 1, supported by the United Farm Workers; SB 308, sponsored by the Teamsters; & SB 813, sponsored by Brown. After discussions and debates, Brown signed the Alatorre-Zenovich-Dunlap-Berman Farm Labor Relations Act (1975) into law. It was the inaugural farm labor statute in California.

1990

The oil accident involving Exxon Valdez occurred on 24^th March 1989. Sections 7872 & 7873 of the Labor Code were added by the California Refinery & Chemical Plant Worker Safety legislation of 1990. AB 2601 became law on 25^th September 1992. Lesbians and gays were shielded from discrimination in the workplace. California was the eighth state to include sexual orientation in its anti-discrimination statutes.

2003

In contrast to the federal WARN (Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification Act), which went into force in 2003, the California WARN provides protection for a wider range of workers. To assist employees in collecting fines for the benefit of the Labor & Workforce Development Agency, the California Legislature passed the Private Attorneys General Act (2004). AB 469, the Wage Theft Prevention Act, became operative in 2011.

2013

Section 980, which went into effect on 1^st January 2013, forbids employers from asking to view a worker’s or job applicant’s social media accounts unless there are certain circumstances. The minimum wage was hiked from eight dollars to nine dollars per hour in 2014. The Bill of Rights for Domestic Workers became operative.

Industries

1. Amusement Park Rides

In 1968, California passed legislation requiring inspections of amusement rides following the 1967 fatality of a teenager at the Kern County Fair. The updated bill failed to mention permanent amusement rides, despite the fact that the initial draft had them included. About thirty years later, in 1999, the Labor Code was amended to include the Permanent Amusement Ride Inspection Program.

2. Computer

Section 515.5 makes it difficult for employees working in the field of computer software to be exempt from overtime compensation. The minimum hourly wage required for it is $36.00. It is possible for trainees or inexperienced individuals to be exempt even if they fulfill all the requirements. One exception is for writers. Actors may be excused if they fulfill the standards for filming.

3. Entertainment

Although some governments do not impose age limitations on actors, California mandates that actors be a minimum of fifteen days old. A part of child performers’ income is protected by the California Child Actors’ Bill. The performers in Mad Men consumed herbal cigarettes in place of tobacco smokes because of the tobacco ban.

4. Garment

In 1999, Assembly Bill 633 was approved, including section 2673.1 that “guarantees” salaries for textile workers. Each individual enrolled as a garment producer is required by Labor Code 2676.5 to post their full name, address, & textile manufacturing authorization number on the front door of their establishment. A civil fine was imposed in 2013 with the addition of Section 2676.55.

5. Restaurant

Despite Section 351’s ban on employers collecting, accepting, or keeping any gratuity provided for a worker by a customer, tip pooling disputes are decided on an individual basis. But more and more eateries are implementing a no-tipping rule.

Effect

A study carried out in Los Angeles found that 29.7% of the tested workers in the city received less than the legal minimum wage in the preceding workweek. The incidence of violations for overtime was 15.5%. 81.7 percent of people violated the meal break. The rate of violations of deductions was 45.3%. A fear of losing their jobs prevented 12% of respondents in Los Angeles from complaining about significant issues at work.

Half of the dining establishment’s employees in San Francisco’s Chinatown were paid below the minimum wage, according to the study. According to investigators, eighty-nine percent of the more than 1,600 incidents in the Southern California garment sector since 2009 include violations of labor laws; the immigrant workers in these cases are either hesitant to speak up or are uninformed of their rights.

1. Citations

Janitorial service providers, owners of restaurants, warehouses, government-appointed contractors, medical supply providers, landscaping companies, vacation rentals, hotels, assisted-living homes, adult care homes, a hospital operator, and a garment manufacturer were all cited by the Labor Commissioner (Division of Labor Standards Enforcement) in 2013. Wage difficulties in low-wage sectors are the subject of the majority of citations.

According to the “State of the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement,” over thirteen million dollars in unpaid overtime salaries, over three million dollars in outstanding minimum wages, and over $51 million in civil penalties were levied in 2012.

Cal/OSHA (in 2013) issued citations to an engineering firm, a chipping business, an adhesive tech company, and an automobile company. The majority of citations were given after employees passed away.

2. Lawsuits

In a class action complaint regarding its failure to offer enough meal & rest breaks, FedEx consented to offer a $2.1 million payout on 13^th August 2014. The case was brought by the principal plaintiff in September 2013. He also received a settlement payout of roughly $7500.

A 29 million dollar agreement of nine cases was reached by Walgreens on 2^nd April 2014. According to the allegations, Walgreens did not “give its pharmacists and additional staff members proper breaks & meal periods, compensate them overtime for compulsory security checks, pay every salary owing after termination, compensate employees for company expenditures, or provide categorized wage statements.”

A class action suit alleging Starbucks of many wage and hour breaches was settled on 13^th May 2013, when the firm committed to pay three million dollars in damages. The class participants in this collective action settlement are shift supervisors, baristas, and cafe attendants who worked at Starbucks in California from 2^nd December 2007, to January 2013. In December 2008, a shift supervisor and barista filed the lawsuit.

In order to settle a class action lawsuit alleging overtime, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. LLC was required to pay two million dollars to roughly 1500 present and past employees (5^th February 2013). In November 2011, a security guard initiated this lawsuit. Thirty percent ($600,000) would go to the lawyers.

Car wash employees won a one-million-dollar back pay judgment from eight car washes on 11^th January 2012, for issues related to overtime, minimum wages, and inadequate remuneration.

Employees were not given accurate wage statements by Premier Warehousing & Impact Logistics on 12^th October 2011. They were fined more than a million dollars.

AutoZone rejected any misconduct but agreed to set up a $4.5 million collective action resolution on 19^th September 2011, over wage & labor breaches.

Featured Sections

California has generally more employee-friendly labor laws than other states.

Labor Code 29.5: Every year, the governor will proclaim April 28 to be Workers’ Memorial Day.
Labor Code 96(k): The State Labor Commissioner may bring claims on behalf of employees who have lost earnings due to a demotion, expulsion, or termination for lawful behavior that took place off-site during inactive hours.
Labor Code 98.6(a): Because an applicant or employee engaged in any of the behaviors listed in this section, including the behaviors outlined in Section 96 (subdivision k, see above), an employer is not permitted to terminate the worker or take any other adverse action against them, including discrimination, retaliation, or the termination of an employee.
Labor Code 202: Employees who provide 72 hours’ notice before departing should be compensated at the point of departure. Employers who have remote workers typically have to schedule the final check sending time or terminate the worker in person.
Labor Code 227.3: Upon termination of employment, all unclaimed paid vacation time must be reimbursed. The final wage determines its rate.
Labor Code 245: California mandates paid sick leave, making it the second US state to do so.
Labor Code 511: Employers are allowed to implement a different work schedule. They may increase the non-overtime everyday work hours from 8 to 10 hours.
Labor Code 1171.5: Labor regulations (2002) provide protection to immigrants who are undocumented.
Labor Code 1194: Workers cannot forfeit their entitlement to overtime compensation. A proper Injury & Illness Prevention Program (as mandated in Section 3203) must be implemented by all businesses.
Labor Codes 4658 & 4660: These sections of the Labor Code are based on the 5th Edition of the American Medical Association’s Guides to the Assessment of Permanent Impairment.

The rights and responsibilities of employees and staff are the primary focus of the California Labor Code. Although labor regulations are set by the states, all of them must abide by the National Labor Relations Act, a federal act. The standards for wage legislation and working conditions can also be referred to as labor law.

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California Labor Code: Divisions, Laws, and Employee Rights Overview

Introduction

Divisions of the California Labor Code

History

Industries

Effect

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