California’s new Wage Theft Protection Act of 2011 (Labor Code Section 2810.5, effective January 1, 2012), requires employers to provide most new non-overtime-exempt employees with a written notice that contains specified information regarding, among others, wage rate, payday, employer name and address, workers’ compensation insurance carrier information, and other information added by the Labor Commissioner as it may deem necessary

On April 12, 2012, the Labor Commissioner updated its FAQs on the new law, and also revised the notice template for employer use. The revised notice template provides much-needed clarification to the confusing “written agreement” question that had appeared on the original notice template, and had employers worried that the question could create ambiguity as to whether the employment was at will. The new notice template reads, “Does a written agreement exist providing the rate(s) of pay?” and eliminates this confusion.

Our previous blog entries on this topic can be found here and here.

Employers can access the Labor Commissioner’s updated notice template and revised FAQ’s at http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/Governor_signs_Wage_Theft_Protection_Act_of_2011.html.