California Labor Code 210 Penalties for Late Wages: How to Recover

California Labor Code Section 210 penalties for late wages come in two tiers: $100 per employee for a first violation, and $200 per employee plus 25% of the wages unlawfully withheld for any subsequent, willful, or intentional violation.¹ These are civil penalties, separate from the wages themselves and from other remedies. Since AB 673 took effect on January 1, 2020, employees can recover the full penalty for themselves through a wage claim instead of leaving collection to the state.

What Triggers an LC 210 Penalty

The penalty attaches when an employer misses a payday required by California’s wage-payment statutes. The most common trigger is Section 204’s semi-monthly schedule: wages earned between the 1st and 15th of a month must be paid by the 26th of that same month, and wages earned from the 16th through the end of the month must be paid by the 10th of the following month.² Employers pick specific paydays inside those windows, and missing one creates a violation.

Other statutes feed into LC 210 as well, including the rules for vehicle-dealer employees (Section 204.1), temporary services employees (Section 204.11), weekly and biweekly pay schedules (Section 205), and equal-pay violations (Section 1197.5).¹

How the Penalty Is Calculated

The first-tier penalty is $100 per employee whose pay was late. That flat amount applies whether or not the employer meant to miss the deadline.³

The second tier is $200 per employee plus 25% of the wages unlawfully withheld, and it applies to subsequent, willful, or intentional violations.¹ If an employer intentionally withholds $4,000 from a worker, the penalty is $200 plus $1,000 (25% of $4,000), for $1,200 against that one worker for that one pay period.

The penalty is assessed per employee and per pay period. An employer who pays 20 workers late over three consecutive pay periods faces 60 separate violations, not one. Even at the first-tier rate, that comes to $6,000 in penalties, on top of the wages still owed.

What Stacks On Top: Waiting Time and Interest

When the late wages are final pay after a termination or resignation, a second penalty runs alongside LC 210. Labor Code Section 203 requires that a fired employee receive all wages immediately, an employee who quits with less than 72 hours’ notice receive them within 72 hours, and an employee who gives at least 72 hours’ notice receive them on the last day.⁴

If the employer willfully misses those deadlines, Section 203 imposes a waiting time penalty equal to the employee’s daily wage for each day payment is late, capped at 30 days.⁵ Someone earning $200 a day can recover up to $6,000 under Section 203 alone. LC 210 penalties run on top, because the two statutes operate independently.

Interest also runs. Under Labor Code Section 218.6, courts award interest on unpaid wages from the date the wages were originally due, not from the filing date or judgment.⁶ The rate is set by Civil Code Section 3289(b) at 10% per year.

The Good Faith Dispute Defense

A good faith dispute exists when the employer has a legitimate defense, grounded in law or fact, that would defeat the wage claim if it succeeded.⁷ A defense that loses is not automatically in bad faith, but a defense unsupported by evidence, unreasonable, or dishonestly raised will not qualify.

For LC 210 the defense has a limited effect. The first-tier $100 penalty applies to any initial late payment and carries no intent requirement, so a good faith dispute does not eliminate it. The defense matters at the second tier, where the penalty jumps to $200 plus 25% for willful or intentional violations. An employer with a genuine dispute over whether particular wages were due may avoid being classified as willful and stay at the lower tier. Honest confusion is not enough on its own; the employer must have made a reasonable attempt to understand what the law required.

How to Recover the Penalty

Employees collect LC 210 penalties by filing a wage claim with the Labor Commissioner’s Office. Since AB 673, the recovered penalty goes to the employee rather than the state.¹

Claims can be filed online, by mail, by email, or in person. Bring your employer’s name and address, hours-worked records, pay stubs, and any documentation showing what you were owed versus what you received. If pay stubs are not available, note supervisor and manager names and any other identifying details.⁸ The office typically holds a settlement conference, and if that fails, a hearing officer reviews the evidence and issues a decision.

Deadlines depend on the underlying violation. Claims for unpaid minimum wages, overtime, missed breaks, illegal deductions, and unpaid reimbursements have three years. Oral-promise claims above minimum wage have two years. Written contract claims have four.⁸ Missing the deadline forfeits the claim.

Wage Claim or PAGA

You cannot recover the LC 210 penalty for the same violation through both a wage claim and the Private Attorneys General Act.¹ A wage claim keeps the full statutory penalty with the employee and is usually the faster route for an individual worker. PAGA lets an employee sue on behalf of the state, which can reach violations across a wider group of workers, but 75% of PAGA penalties go to the state and only 25% to affected employees. PAGA tends to make sense when violations are widespread and long-running enough to justify the added complexity.

1
California Legislative Information. California Code Labor Code 210
2
Labor Commissioner’s Office. Paydays, Pay Periods, and the Final Wages
3
Department of Industrial Relations. FAQs – Late Payment of Wages
4
Department of Industrial Relations. Final Pay
5
California Legislative Information. California Code LAB 203
6
California Legislative Information. California Code Labor Code 218-6
7
Department of Industrial Relations. California Code of Regulations Title 8 Section 13520
8
Labor Commissioner’s Office. How to File a Wage Claim