Article 4. Termination Of Employment of California Labor Code >> Division 3. >> Chapter 2. >> Article 4.
Every employment is terminated by any of the following:
(a) Expiration of its appointed term.
(b) Extinction of its subject.
(c) Death of the employee.
(d) The employee's legal incapacity to act as such.
Every employment in which the power of the employee is not
coupled with an interest in its subject is terminated by notice to
the employee of either of the following:
(a) The death of the employer.
(b) The legal incapacity of the employer to contract.
An employment, having no specified term, may be terminated at
the will of either party on notice to the other. Employment for a
specified term means an employment for a period greater than one
month.
An employee, unless the term of his service has expired or
unless he has a right to discontinue it at any time without notice,
shall continue his service after notice of the death or incapacity of
his employer, so far as is necessary to protect from serious injury
the interests of the employer's successor in interest, until a
reasonable time after notice of the facts has been communicated to
such successor. The successor shall compensate the employee for such
service according to the terms of the contract of employment.
An employment for a specified term may be terminated at any
time by the employer in case of any willful breach of duty by the
employee in the course of his employment, or in case of his habitual
neglect of his duty or continued incapacity to perform it.
An employment for a specified term may be terminated by the
employee at any time in case of any wilful or permanent breach of the
obligations of his employer to him as an employee.
An employee who is not employed for a specified term and who
is dismissed by his employer is entitled to compensation for services
rendered up to the time of such dismissal.
An employee who is not employed for a specified term and who
quits the service of his employer is entitled to compensation for
services rendered up to the time of such quitting.
No deduction from the wages of an employee on account of his
coming late to work shall be made in excess of the proportionate wage
which would have been earned during the time actually lost, but for
a loss of time less than thirty minutes, a half hour's wage may be
deducted.
(a) As used in this section:
(1) "Garnishment" means any judicial procedure through which the
wages of an employee are required to be withheld for the payment of
any debt.
(2) "Wages" has the same meaning as that term has under Section
200.
(b) No employer may discharge any employee by reason of the fact
that the garnishment of his wages has been threatened. No employer
may discharge any employee by reason of the fact that his wages have
been subjected to garnishment for the payment of one judgment. A
provision of a contract of employment that provides an employee with
less protection than is provided by this subdivision is against
public policy and void.
(c) Unless the employee has greater rights under the contract of
employment, the wages of an employee who is discharged in violation
of this section shall continue until reinstatement notwithstanding
such discharge, but such wages shall not continue for more than 30
days and shall not exceed the amount of wages earned during the 30
calendar days immediately preceding the date of the levy of execution
upon the employee's wages which resulted in his discharge. The
employee shall give notice to his employer of his intention to make a
wage claim under this subdivision within 30 days after being
discharged; and, if he desires to have the Labor Commissioner take an
assignment of his wage claim, the employee shall file a wage claim
with the Labor Commissioner within 60 days after being discharged.
The Labor Commissioner may, in his discretion, take assignment of
wage claims under this subdivision as provided for in Section 96. A
discharged employee shall not be permitted to recover wages under
this subdivision if a criminal prosecution based on the same
discharge has been commenced for violation of Section 304 of the
Consumer Credit Protection Act of 1968 (15 U.S.C. Sec. 1674).
(d) Nothing in this section affects any other rights the employee
may have against his employer.
(e) This section is intended to aid in the enforcement of the
prohibition against discharge for garnishment of earnings provided in
the Consumer Credit Protection Act of 1968 (15 U.S.C. Secs.
1671-1677) and shall be interpreted and applied in a manner which is
consistent with the corresponding provisions of such act.