On July 10, 2023, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 102 into law (“AB 102”). This is the first time in almost 20 years that the Industrial Welfare Commission (“IWC”) has received funding from the state. The IWC, originally established in 1913 to regulate the working conditions of women and children in California, is now one of the state administrative agencies responsible for regulating wages, hours, and working conditions in California workplaces. The passage of AB 102 is a significant development for California employers given that the IWC was defunded in July 2004 and has not convened as a regulatory body since that time.
Appropriation bills such as AB 102 provide authorization to spend funds on specific government departments, agencies and programs. While these appropriation bills are typically of little interest to private employers, AB 102 is a notable bill for private employers as it allocates a full $3,000,000 to the IWC, effectively reviving the agency.
The IWC previously developed and issued 18 industry-specific wage orders that set forth many important requirements California employers must follow related to the wages and working conditions of its employees. The IWC wage orders provide additional restrictions and exemptions to California wage and hour laws for specific industries, such as manufacturing (Wage Order No. 1), mercantile (Wage Order No. 1), and agriculture (Wage Order No. 14), among others. Although the IWC was defunded in 2004, the wage...
CHESHIRE Police says that it has arrested a Warrington woman on suspicion of wasting police time after resources from two police forces were diverted to ‘false kidnap claims’. In the early hours o...