California Labor Code section 226 currently requires each paycheck to include an itemized statement with, among other things, the employee's name and social security number. Over the past few years, the rise in identity theft has caused a reworking of this requirement.

Accordingly, section 226 was amended in 2004 by Senate Bill 1618 which stated that employers could only print the last four digits of an employee's social security number on paychecks beginning on January 1, 2008. The problem was that the language of Senate Bill 1618 only applied to paychecks; not the itemized statements included with the paychecks.

Senate Bill 101 resolves this oversight and amends section 226 to apply the limitation on the use of employee social security numbers to itemized statements.

 Posted August 6, 2008 - 6:27PM

The IRS announced that the IRS mileage rate will increase to 58.5 cents a mile for all business miles driven from July 1, 2008, through Dec. 31, 2008.  This is an increase of eight cents from the 50.5 cent rate in effect for the first six months of 2008.

What does this mean for California employers?

California's DLSE has maintained that employers are required to reimburse employees for business miles driven at the IRS mileage rate in order to comply with California Labor Code section 2802.  However, just last year, the California Supreme Court ruled in Gattuso v. Harte-Hanks that the reimbursement rate does not have the be the IRS mileage rate but can be negotiated by parties as long as it fully reimburses the employee. The Court stated:

We agree that, as with other terms and conditions of employment, a mileage rate for automobile expense reimbursement may be a subject of negotiation and agreement between employer and employee. Under section 2804, however, any agreement made by the employee is null and void insofar as it waives the employee’s rights to full expense reimbursement under section 2802.

So if employers wish to reimburse employees at an amount lower than the IRS mileage rate, it is recommended that the agreement be documented and that the employer take into account any facts that would either increase or decrease the amount needed to fully reimburse the employee. 

Posted August 6, 2008 - 6:28PM