©2024 Seyfarth Shaw LLP www.seyfarth.com 2024 Cal-Peculiarities | 21 Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (see § 1.5), and the Division of Apprenticeship Standards. The DIR has formed a Labor Enforcement Task Force to combat the underground economy in California, with the goal of reducing the prevalence of underpaid wages and taxes. The Task Force includes representatives of many government branches, such as the DIR, the EDD, the Contractor’s State Licensing Board, the Bureau of Automotive Repair, the California Attorney General, and the Department of Insurance. 1.4 Industrial Welfare Commission (IWC) The IWC, a five-member body appointed by the Governor, ascertained the hours and conditions of labor and employment in various occupations, trades, and industries, investigated the health, safety, and welfare of those employees, and promulgated Wage Orders that have the force of statutes (see § 7.1).12 Established in 1913, the IWC spent its first 60 years focusing on the wages, hours, and working conditions of women and children. To this end, the IWC—beginning in 1916—promulgated a series of industry- and occupation-wide Wage Orders, prescribing various minimum requirements with respect to wages, hours, and working conditions to protect the health and welfare of women and child laborers. The IWC’s jurisdiction broadened to employees generally in the 1970s, after courts held that female-protective legislation was unlawful.13 Before 2000, the IWC was the body that set overtime as well as other wage and hour requirements. It acted in a quasi-legislative capacity, promulgating Wage Orders that set rules for wages, hours, and working conditions that differed from one industry to another. During a Republican administration, in 1997, the IWC eliminated daily overtime from the Wage Orders. In response, after Democrat Gray Davis became governor in 1998, the Legislature amended the Labor Code to reinstate daily overtime requirements and to enshrine various employee protections into the Labor Code so that they could never again be altered by the IWC. The Wage Orders remain in effect, but the IWC is precluded from promulgating Wage Order rules that conflict with the Labor Code. Although the California Legislature defunded the IWC in 2004, the IWC Wage Orders remain in effect, and are enforced by the DLSE.14 In 2023 the Governor set aside $3 million in the State’s budget for the IWC to again reconvene and set forth recommendations for wages, hours, and working conditions in new wage orders by October 31, 2024, thus setting in motion a potential revival of the IWC after 20 years.15 1.5 The Labor Commissioner—the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) 1.5.1 Complaints for unpaid wages with the DLSE The head of the DLSE is known as the “Labor Commissioner.”16 Employees claiming unpaid wages may file a claim with a local DLSE office, which will investigate and can hold a hearing. The DLSE has no jurisdiction over bona fide independent contractors and only limited jurisdiction over claims by federal, state, county, or municipal employees, and employees working under collective bargaining agreements. The DLSE, through its Bureau of Field Enforcement, has focused its enforcement and collection efforts in particular industries, such as the car wash, restaurant, construction, garment, and agriculture industries.17 The Labor Commissioner has heralded a public awareness campaign—”Wage Theft Is A Crime”—to educate workers about their wage and hour rights.18 The Labor Commissioner can investigate an employer—with or without a filed complaint—when the Labor Commissioner, during a wage claim or investigation, suspects retaliation or discrimination.19 The DLSE schedules settlement conferences and administrative hearings—called Berman hearings—before Deputy Labor Commissioners in various branch offices. Within ten days after service of the notice and the complaint, the defendant (the employer) may file an answer. Within 30 days of the complaint, the
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