As discussed in a prior post on this blog, the California Wage Theft Prevention Act of 2011 (AB 469) took effect on January 1, 2012. This new law requires California employers to provide all newly hired non-exempt California employees with a written notice at the time of hire that contains certain specified wage-related information. It also requires California employers to provide written notice to existing employees within seven calendar days of a change to any of the specified information.
In late December 2011, the California Labor Commissioner published a template form for employers to use to comply with the new law. The template form required the disclosure of several additional pieces of information beyond what is required by the statute. The California Labor Commissioner also published a “Frequently Asked Questions” (FAQ) section on its website to address common employer questions regarding the new law.
Today, in response to complaints from employers and employees about the confusing questions on the original template, the DLSE substantially revised its template form and published new FAQs. The new template form can be found here, and the revised FAQs can be found here.
Employers who provided written notice to employees on or before April 11, 2012 using the Labor Commissioner’s previous template form are not required to reissue notices using the new template. All notices provided on or after April 12, 2012 must use the new template or an employer-created equivalent that includes all of the same information.