Employment: workers' compensation and piece-rate compensation.

(1) Existing law establishes a workers' compensation system, administered by the Administrative Director of the Division of Workers' Compensation, to compensate an employee for injuries sustained in the course of his or her employment. Existing law requires the Commission on Health and Safety and Workers' Compensation to undertake a specified study examining the causes of the number of insolvencies among workers' compensation insurers to be conducted by an independent research organization, and requires the commission and the Department of Industrial Relations, no later than July 1, 2009, to publish the report of the study on its Internet Web site and to inform the Legislature and the Governor of the availability of the report. Existing law requires the administrative director, in consultation with the commission and other entities, to conduct a study of medical treatment provided to workers who have sustained industrial injuries and illness, and to report and make recommendations to the Legislature on or before July 1, 2004. Existing law requires the administrative director, after consultation with the Insurance Commissioner, to contract with a qualified organization to study the 2003 and 2004 legislative reforms on insurance rates, and to submit the study to the Governor and Legislature. Existing law requires the Governor and the Insurance Commissioner to review that study and make recommendations, and authorizes them to submit proposals to the Legislature. This bill would repeal these obsolete workers' compensation study requirements. (2) Existing law prohibits an employer from requiring an employee to work during any meal or rest or recovery period mandated by an applicable statute or specified regulation, standard, or order, establishes penalties for an employer's failure to provide a mandated meal or rest or recovery period, and requires rest or recovery periods to be counted as hours worked. Existing law establishes the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement in the Department of Industrial Relations for the enforcement of labor laws, including laws related to wage claims. Existing law requires every employer, semimonthly or at the time of each payment of wages, to furnish each employee with an accurate itemized statement in writing showing specified information. A knowing and intentional violation of this provision by an employer is a misdemeanor, as specified. This bill would require the itemized statement provided to employees compensated on a piece-rate basis to also separately state the total hours of compensable rest and recovery periods, the rate of compensation, and the gross wages paid for those periods during the pay period, and the total hours of other nonproductive time, as specified, the rate of compensation, and the gross wages paid for that time during the pay period. The bill would require those employees to be compensated for rest and recovery periods and other nonproductive time at or above specified minimum hourly rates, separately from any piece-rate compensation. The bill would define "other nonproductive time" for purposes of these provisions to mean time under the employer's control, exclusive of rest and recovery periods, that is not directly related to the activity being compensated on a piece-rate basis. Because a knowing and intentional violation of these requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill, until January 1, 2021, would provide that an employer shall have an affirmative defense to any claim or cause of action for recovery of wages, damages, liquidated damages, statutory penalties, or civil penalties based solely on the employer's failure to timely pay the employee the compensation due for rest and recovery periods and other nonproductive time for time periods prior to and including December 31, 2015, if, by no later than December 15, 2016, the employer complies with specified requirements, subject to specified exceptions. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.