California employment law is tricky stuff. You have to pay attention or you’ll miss something.

Last Thursday, when everyone was paying attention to the Brinker decision, the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement issued a new version of the Wage Theft Protection Act form to be given to all non-exempt, non-union employees at the time of hire. They also expanded the FAQs on the requirement for the second time in three months.

From the beginning, one of my gripes about this form was the question that read:

Employment agreement is (check box):  ? Oral    ? Written

As discussed in more detail here, in real life, some terms of employment are oral, others are written, and some are implied. Well that question is out. It’s been replaced with the (in my opinion) less objectionable:

Does a written agreement exist providing the rate(s) of pay? (check box): ? Yes  ? No
     If yes, are all rate(s) of pay and bases thereof contained in that written agreement? ? Yes  ? No
 

There’s also a much more concise summary of the employer’s ongoing duties at the end (one paragraph instead of four).

You can access the new form here. At present, it’s only available in English. But the DLSE says other language versions will be posted soon. Employees who’ve already received the old notice, don’t need to be given the new one (unless there’s been a substantive change in the information previously provided).

Your ever-vigilant bloggers will continue to keep an eye on developments.