SB1444 - Employment.

Enrolled August 14, 2026 Passed IN Senate May 07, 2026 Passed IN Assembly August 13, 2026 Amended IN Senate April 23, 2026 CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION Senate Bill No. 1444 Introduced by Committee on Labor, Public Employment and Retirement (Senators Smallwood-Cuevas (Chair), Cortese, Durazo, Laird, and Strickland) March 17, 2026 An act to amend Section 21472 of the Government Code, to amend Sections 98, 98.1, 226.8, 3212, 3212.1, 3212.15, 3212.6, 3212.8, 3212.85, and 3212.9 of the Labor Code, and to amend Sections 832 and 4902 of the Unemployment Insurance Code, relating to employment. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 1444, Committee on Labor, Public Employment and Retirement. Employment. (1) Existing law, the Public Employees’ Retirement Law, permits a member of the Public Employees’ Retirement System to elect from among several optional settlements for the purpose of structuring the member’s retirement allowance. Existing law requires a member to make an election, revocation, or change of election within 30 calendar days after the making of the first payment on account of any retirement allowance or, in the event of a change of retirement status after retirement, within 30 calendar days after making the first payment on account of that change in retirement status. This bill would extend the timeframe for those actions to within 60 calendar days after making the first payment. (2) Existing law sets forth the Labor Commissioner’s duties, including investigating employee complaints, and requires the Labor Commissioner, within 30 days of the filing of the complaint, to notify the parties as to whether a hearing will be held and whether certain actions will be taken. Existing law requires a party who has received actual notice of a claim before the Labor Commissioner to notify the Labor Commissioner in writing of any changes in that party’s business or personal address within 10 days after the change in address occurs. Existing law requires a copy of the complaint to be served on all parties when a hearing is set, and specifies the copy shall be served personally, by certified mail, or pursuant to specified provisions authorizing certain service in lieu of personal delivery. Existing law requires the Labor Commissioner to file a decision within 15 days after the hearing is concluded and to serve a copy of that decision on the parties in the same manner as the copy of the complaint. This bill would also require a party to notify the Labor Commissioner of any changes to that party’s electronic address. The bill would revise the manner in which notice is required to be given and the copy of the decision is required to be served to include first-class mail, registered mail, or any manner that the party agrees to accept service, except that any party that is represented by an attorney would be required to accept electronic service from the Labor Commissioner. The bill would require a represented party to provide their attorney’s electronic mail address. (3) Existing law makes it unlawful for a person or employer to engage in certain acts relating to the willful misclassification of an individual as an independent contractor and imposes certain civil penalties for violations of that provision, as specified. Existing law entitles an employee to recover damages for a violation, as specified, and sets forth certain enforcement provisions. In this regard, existing law provides that, for each public employee subject to specified statutes, the Labor Commissioner or a public prosecutor may alternatively recover the above-referenced civil penalties as damages payable to the employee, as specified. This bill would, instead, provide that each employee under those statutes, the Labor Commissioner, or a public prosecutor may alternatively recover the above-referenced civil penalties as damages payable to the employee, as specified. (4) Existing law establishes a workers’ compensation system to compensate an employee for injuries sustained in the course of employment. Existing law creates a rebuttable presumption that specified injuries, including cancer and post-traumatic stress disorder, that developed or manifested during a period in which the person is serving as a first responder, as specified, arose out of and in the course of employment. Existing law makes these provisions applicable to an active firefighting members of a fire department that provides fire protection to a commercial airport regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration, as specified, and that are trained and certified by the State Fire Marshal as meeting the standards of Fire Control 5 and a specified section of the Code of Federal Regulations. This bill would eliminate the requirement that the above-described active firefighters be trained and certified by the State Fire Marshal as meeting the standards of Fire Control 5 for the above-described presumptions to apply to those firefighters. (5) Existing law requires the Director of Employment Development to calculate the experiences of school employers relative to usage of the Unemployment Fund and to provide this information, among other things, to the affected school employer and governing body thereof at least annually. This bill would require the report also to be made to the Legislature. Existing law requires the Director of Employment Development to develop experience relationships on all benefits paid to employees via the School Employees Fund and on school employers’ experience related to use and exposure, and to report this each year to the Legislature before March 31. This bill would recast those provisions and require the development of experience relationships to be included in the report containing calculation of the experiences of school employers relative to usage of the Unemployment Fund described above. Existing law requires the director to prepare a biennial report to the Legislature on the department’s automation plans that, among other things, provides a strategic information technology plan that describes the long-term goals and strategies that shall be undertaken by the department covering a 10-year planning horizon, as specified. This bill would instead require the report to include a plan covering a 3-year planning horizon. The bill would also make other nonsubstantive changes. Digest Key Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NO Bill Text The people of the State of California do enact as follows: SECTION 1. Section 21472 of the Government Code is amended to read: 21472. (a) An election, revocation, or change of election shall be made within 60 calendar days after the making of the first payment on account of any retirement allowance or, in the event of a change of retirement status after retirement, within 60 calendar days after the making of the first payment on account of any retirement allowance following the change in retirement status. “Change in retirement status” includes, but is not limited to, change from service to disability retirement, from disability retirement to service retirement, from nonindustrial disability retirement to industrial disability retirement, or from industrial to nonindustrial disability retirement. (b) For purposes of this section, payment shall be deemed to have been made on the date a warrant is mailed, or the date funds are electronically transferred to a bank, savings and loan association, or credit union account for deposit in the member’s account. (c) This section shall not be construed to authorize a member to change their retirement status after the election, revocation, or change of election provided in this section. (d) This section shall apply to any member who retires on or after January 1, 2018. SEC. 2. Section 98 of the Labor Code is amended to read: 98. (a) The Labor Commissioner is authorized to investigate employee complaints. The Labor Commissioner may provide for a hearing in any action to recover wages, penalties, and other demands for compensation, including liquidated damages if the complaint alleges payment of a wage less than the minimum wage fixed by an order of the Industrial Welfare Commission or by statute, properly before the division or the Labor Commissioner, including orders of the Industrial Welfare Commission, and shall determine all matters arising under their jurisdiction. The Labor Commissioner may also provide for a hearing to recover civil penalties due pursuant to Section 558 against any employer or other person acting on behalf of an employer, including, but not limited to, an individual liable pursuant to Section 558.1. It is within the jurisdiction of the Labor Commissioner to accept and determine claims from holders of payroll checks or payroll drafts returned unpaid because of insufficient funds, if, after a diligent search, the holder is unable to return the dishonored check or draft to the payee and recover the sums paid out. Within 30 days of the filing of the complaint, the Labor Commissioner shall notify the parties as to whether a hearing will be held, whether action will be taken in accordance with Section 98.3, or whether no further action will be taken on the complaint. If the determination is made by the Labor Commissioner to hold a hearing, the hearing shall be held within 90 days of the date of that determination. However, the Labor Commissioner may postpone or grant additional time before setting a hearing if the Labor Commissioner finds that it would lead to an equitable and just resolution of the dispute. A party who has received actual notice of a claim before the Labor Commissioner shall, while the matter is before the Labor Commissioner, notify the Labor Commissioner in writing of any change in that party’s business address, personal address, or electronic address within 10 days after the change in address occurs. It is the intent of the Legislature that hearings held pursuant to this section be conducted in an informal setting preserving the rights of the parties. (b) When a hearing is set, a copy of the complaint, which shall include the amount of compensation requested, together with a notice of time and place of the hearing, shall be served on all parties. (c) Within 10 days after service of the notice and the complaint, a defendant may file an answer with the Labor Commissioner in any form as the Labor Commissioner may prescribe, setting forth the particulars in which the complaint is inaccurate or incomplete and the facts upon which the defendant intends to rely. (d) No pleading other than the complaint and answer of the defendant or defendants shall be required. Both shall be in writing and shall conform to the form and the rules of practice and procedure adopted by the Labor Commissioner. (e) Evidence on matters not pleaded in the answer shall be allowed only on terms and conditions the Labor Commissioner shall impose. In all these cases, the claimant shall be entitled to a continuance for purposes of review of the new evidence. (f) If the defendant fails to appear or answer within the time allowed under this chapter, no default shall be taken against them, but the Labor Commissioner shall hear the evidence offered and shall issue an order, decision, or award in accordance with the evidence. A defendant failing to appear or answer, or subsequently contending to be aggrieved in any manner by want of notice of the pendency of the proceedings, may apply to the Labor Commissioner for relief in accordance with Section 473 of the Code of Civil Procedure. The Labor Commissioner may afford this relief. No right to relief, including the claim that the findings or award of the Labor Commissioner or judgment entered thereon are void upon their face, shall accrue to the defendant in any court unless prior application is made to the Labor Commissioner in accordance with this chapter. (g) All hearings conducted pursuant to this chapter are governed by the division and by the rules of practice and procedure adopted by the Labor Commissioner. (h) (1) Whenever a claim is filed under this chapter against a person operating or doing business under a fictitious business name, as defined in Section 17900 of the Business and Professions Code, which relates to the person’s business, the division shall inquire at the time of the hearing whether the name of the person is the legal name under which the business or person has been licensed, registered, incorporated, or otherwise authorized to do business. (2) The division may amend an order, decision, or award to conform to the legal name of the business or the person who is the defendant to a wage claim, if it can be shown that proper service was made on the defendant or their agent, unless a judgment had been entered on the order, decision, or award pursuant to subdivision (d) of Section 98.2. The Labor Commissioner may apply to the clerk of the superior court to amend a judgment that has been issued pursuant to a final order, decision, or award to conform to the legal name of the defendant, if it can be shown that proper service was made on the defendant or their agent. (i) (A) A notice required to be given pursuant to this section shall be given by personal service, first-class mail, certified mail, registered mail, in the manner specified in Section 415.20 of the Code of Civil Procedure, or by any manner that the party agrees to accept service, including, but not limited to, electronic service. (B) A party that is represented by an attorney shall provide the Labor Commissioner with the attorney’s electronic mail address and shall accept electronic service from the Labor Commissioner. SEC. 3. Section 98.1 of the Labor Code is amended to read: 98.1. (a) (1) Within 15 days after the hearing is concluded, the Labor Commissioner shall file in the office of the division a copy of the order, decision, or award. The order, decision, or award shall include a summary of the hearing and the reasons for the decision. Upon filing of the order, decision, or award, the Labor Commissioner shall serve a copy of the decision in compliance with paragraph (2). The notice shall also advise the parties of their right to appeal the decision or award and further advise the parties that failure to do so within the period prescribed by this chapter shall result in the decision or award becoming final and enforceable as a judgment by the superior court. (2) (A) The Labor Commissioner shall serve the notice required by this subdivision by personal service, first-class mail, certified mail, registered mail, in the manner specified in Section 415.20 of the Code of Civil Procedure, or by any manner that the party agrees to accept service, including, but not limited to, electronic service. (B) A party that is represented by an attorney shall provide the Labor Commissioner with the attorney’s electronic mail address and shall accept electronic service from the Labor Commissioner. (b) For the purpose of this section, an award shall inc [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]