Wage Theft Bill By North Bay Officials Signed By Newsom

CALIFORNIA — Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed legislation that that makes it easier to pursue wage theft and labor trafficking cases spanning multiple California counties.

The bill, authored by Assemblymember Chris Rogers, D-Santa Rosa, and co-sponsored by the Sonoma County and Los Angeles County district attorneys' offices, passed the California legislature unanimously. The law takes effect Jan. 1, 2027.

Subscribe

According to Sonoma County District Attorney Carla Rodriguez, the measure addresses a gap in California law that left uncertainty over which county had jurisdiction to prosecute wage theft and labor trafficking cases.

Unlike traditional theft cases involving physical property, those crimes often cross county lines without fitting neatly into existing jurisdiction statutes.

The new law allows prosecutors to file cases in the county where a victim lives, where the employment agreement was made, where any of the work was performed, or where the employer's business is located. It also permits district attorneys to combine related wage theft and labor trafficking offenses that occur in multiple jurisdictions into a single prosecution.

Rodriguez credited Deputy District Attorney Katy Yount, who works in the office's Consumer Protection Unit, with identifying the legal gap. She said Yount worked with Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Tamar Tokat to develop the legislation.

"This was a necessary fix to protect workers across the state," Rodriguez said in a statement. She also thanked Rogers for authoring the bill, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office for co-sponsoring it, and Newsom for signing it into law.

California officials have increasingly focused on wage theft, which can include failing to pay minimum wage or overtime, withholding earned wages, requiring employees to work off the clock, or illegally deducting pay.

Labor trafficking cases can involve workers who are coerced, threatened, or otherwise forced to work through fraud or intimidation.

Workers who believe they have been victims of wage theft should call the wage theft hotline at 1-833-889-2437.

Information is also available through the California Department of Industrial Relations and the Sonoma County District Attorney's Environmental and Consumer Law Division.