2023 California Code › Civil Code - CIV › DIVISION 3 - OBLIGATIONS › PART 4 - OBLIGATIONS ARISING FROM PARTICULAR TRANSACTIONS › TITLE 2.91 - EMPLOYMENT AGENCY, EMPLOYMENT COUNSELING, AND JOB LISTING SERVICES ACT › CHAPTER 2 - Employment Agencies › Section 1812.505.

1812.505. (a) (1) An employment agency shall provide a copy of the agency’s jobseeker fee schedule and payment terms to any jobseeker from whom a fee or deposit is to be received, prior to the jobseeker being interviewed by a counselor. The jobseeker fee schedule shall indicate the percentage of both the projected annual and first month’s total gross earnings represented by those fees.
(2) In the schedule, the various employments or salary ranges by which the fee is to be computed or determined shall be classified, and in each class the maximum fee shall be fixed and shall include the charges of every kind rendered by the agency in each case or transaction on behalf of the prospective employee. Changes in the schedule may be made, but no change shall become effective until posted for not less than seven days in a conspicuous place in the agency.
(3) A copy of the schedule in effect shall be kept posted in the employment agency in a conspicuous place, and the posted schedule and the changes therein shall be in lettering or printing of not less than standard pica capitals. The date of the taking effect of the schedule and of each change therein shall appear on the posted copies.
(4) A copy of all fee schedules, and of all changes therein, shall be kept on file at the employment agency, retrospectively, for a period of one year.
(b) No fee charged or collected shall be in excess of the fee as scheduled.
(c) No employment agency shall accept, directly or indirectly, a registration fee of any kind.
(d) No employment agency may take from a jobseeker a confession of judgment, a promissory note or notes, or an assignment of wages to cover its fees.
(e) The employment agency shall give a receipt to every jobseeker from whom a deposit is received. No other deposit or prepayment of any kind may be required by an agency. If the jobseeker accepts employment, the deposit shall be applied to the fee to be paid by the jobseeker.
(f) (1) If a jobseeker leaves employment for just cause or is discharged for reasons other than misconduct connected with the jobseeker’s work within 90 days from the starting date of employment, the agency shall reduce the fee payable by the jobseeker to that payable for temporary employment under subdivision (g) and shall refund any fee paid in excess of that amount.
(2) No charge may be made to or obligation to pay incurred by any jobseeker beyond that authorized by subdivision (g) for employment lasting 90 days or less, unless the agency’s fee schedules, contracts, and agreements specifically provide for a further charge if the jobseeker leaves employment without just cause or is discharged for misconduct in connection with his or her work, and then only if lack of just cause or misconduct exists. Otherwise, the agency shall retain or charge only the fee for temporary employment for any employment lasting 90 days or less from the starting date of employment.
(3) Notwithstanding subdivision (a) and this subdivision, in no instance in which the employment accepted is subsequently terminated shall the fee charged or obligation to pay incurred by a jobseeker be greater than the total gross earnings of the jobseeker in that employment. This provision shall be stated in all agency contracts issued pursuant to Section 1812.504.
(g) The fee payable by the jobseeker for temporary employment shall not exceed
1
/
90
of the fee for permanent employment for each consecutive calendar day during the period that the jobseeker is employed or compensated as though employed.
(h) (1) If a jobseeker accepts employment in which the jobseeker is to be paid on the basis of straight commissions, or a drawing account against commissions, or either a drawing account or salary plus commissions, the fee payable by the jobseeker may be predicated upon the projected total gross earnings during the first year of employment as estimated by the employer.
(2) Upon the conclusion of a jobseeker’s first 12 months of employment, a computation of his or her actual total gross earnings may be provided by the jobseeker to the agency, and, predicated upon appropriate proof of earnings, an adjustment in the fee shall be made in which either the agency shall refund to the jobseeker any excess fee paid by him or her or the jobseeker shall pay to the agency any deficiency thereon.
(3) If the jobseeker’s employment is terminated prior to the conclusion of the first 12 months of employment, the actual total gross earnings of the jobseeker for the period of employment shall be projected to 12 months on a pro rata basis as though the jobseeker had been employed for the entire period of 12 months, and a computation shall be made thereon. The fee paid or payable by the jobseeker shall be predicated upon that computation as though the jobseeker had been so employed.
(i) If an employment agency sends a jobseeker for employment and the jobseeker accepts employment other than that position specified in the bona fide order for employment to which the jobseeker was sent, but with the same employer, then the agency shall be entitled to a fee for the employment of the jobseeker, payable by the jobseeker, computed under the terms of the fee schedule in effect in the agency at the time of referral, provided that the jobseeker accepts employment within 180 days of the date of referral. The expiration date of the referral shall be stated in the contract.
In interagency disputes concerning the earning of a fee for placement of a jobseeker, the fee shall be earned by the agency responsible for the jobseeker being placed. A reasonable effort shall be made by the billing agency that it is entitled to the fee. The jobseeker shall be responsible for only one full fee for any single placement, and that fact shall be so stated in the contract.
(j) (1) No employment agency shall divide fees with an employer, an agent, or other employee of an employer or person to whom help is furnished.
(2) No employment agency shall charge any jobseeker a fee for accepting employment with such employment agency or any subsidiary of that agency.
(3) No employment agency shall charge any jobseeker a fee when help is furnished to an employer, an agent, any employee of an employer, a member, or person who has a financial interest in the employment agency.
(Added by Stats. 1989, Ch. 704, Sec. 2.)