PAYMENT OF WAGES TO TERMINATED EMPLOYEES IN THE MOTION PICTURE INDUSTRY AND EMPLOYEES ENGAGED IN LIVE THEATRICAL EVENTS OR CONCERTS

The California Labor Code requires that terminated employees be paid all of their earned wages (including accrued and unused vacation) at the time of termination. Employees who quit are entitled to receive all of the wages they are owed within 72 hours of giving notice that they are quitting. Employers who intentionally fail to pay wages at the time they are due to employees who quit or are terminated are subject to "waiting time" penalties equal to a day's wages for each day that the final pay remains unpaid, up to a maximum of 30 days.

Until now, the only exceptions to the requirements for the payment of final wages have been for employers in the following industries: (1) seasonal employment in the curing, canning, or drying of perishable fruit, fish, or vegetables; (2) employees in the motion picture industry; and (3) employees in the oil drilling business.

Effective January 1, 2007, a new exception has been added to the Labor Code for employees who work at a venue that hosts live theatrical or concert events and who are enrolled in and routinely dispatched to employment through a hiring hall "or other system of regular short-term employment" that is established in accordance with a collective bargaining agreement. The new law provides that these employees and their employers may establish by express terms in their collective bargaining agreement time limits for the payment of wages to an employee who is discharged or laid off.

The California legislature has also amended the exception that applies to employees in the motion picture industry. Previously, that exception said that employees in the motion picture industry "whose unusual or uncertain terms of employment require special computation in order to ascertain the amount due," could be paid their final wages the next regular payday in the case of a layoff, and within 24 hours in the case of a discharge. The new statute says that an employee in the motion picture industry whose job duties relate to or support the production or broadcasting of motion pictures or the facilities or equipment used in the production or broadcasting of motion pictures, and who is hired for a period of limited duration to render services relating to or supporting a particular motion picture production or broadcasting project, or is who is hired on the basis of one or more daily or weekly calls, can be paid his final wages the next regular pay day after his employment terminates, whether by reason of discharge, layoff, resignation, completion of employment for a specified term, or otherwise.