(a) As used in this section, the following terms have the following meanings:
(1) “Events employee” means an employee of an owner, operator, affiliate, licensee, vendor, concessions operator, lessee, tenant, or subtenant of a professional baseball venue or professional baseball team, or one of their respective contractors or subcontractors, who works in any capacity during any event held at a professional baseball venue, unless the employee is hired for a specified, limited, period of time, and the employee has no expectation of an ongoing employment relationship.
(2) For purposes of this section, “event” means any event, whether public or private, that is held at a professional baseball venue, including all professional and amateur sports events, games, concerts, shows, performances, conventions, or other entertainment events.
(3) “Professional baseball venue” means any venue where professional baseball games regularly are played.
(4) “Next regular payday” means the day designated by the employer of an events employee, pursuant to Section 204, for payment of wages earned during the payroll period, except where the events employee is discharged by the employer or where the events employee quits the employment.
(b) An events employee is entitled to receive payment of the wages earned and unpaid by the next regular payday, unless an events employee is discharged by the employer or the events employee quits the employment, in which case payment of final wages is governed by Sections 201 and 202, respectively.
(c) The payment of wages to an events employee covered by this section may be mailed to the events employee, paid by direct deposit to an account designated by the events employee, or made available to the events employee at a location specified by the employer in the county where the events employee was hired or performed labor. The payment shall be deemed to have been made on the date that the events employee’s wages are mailed to the events employee, directly deposited, or made available to the events employee at the location specified by the employer, whichever is earlier.
(d) Events employees shall be deemed to be employed continuously and without interruption until their employment is terminated either by the employer or the events employee. The conclusion of an event or series of events (whether it is a single game, concert, or event, or a series of games in a homestand, or the end of the season for a professional baseball team), by itself, does not constitute a discharge, termination, layoff, or any other type of break in service.
(e) Nothing in this section prohibits the parties to a valid collective bargaining agreement from establishing alternative provisions for payment of wages to events employees covered by this section if those provisions do not exceed the time limitation established in Section 204.
(f) Nothing in this section should be read to affect the interpretation or application of Article 1 (commencing with Section 1251) of Chapter 5 of Part 1 of Division 1 of the Unemployment Insurance Code, including Section 1253.8 of that article.
(Added by Stats. 2019, Ch. 700, Sec. 1. (SB 286) Effective January 1, 2020.)