H 3980 General Bill, By R.B. Brown
 A Bill to amend Section 41-10-10, Code of Laws of South Carolina, 1976,
 relating to definitions for purposes of payment of wages, so as to delete
 holiday and sick leave from the definition of wages, and to delete the
 specific reference to severance payments in amounts due an employee by
 contract or policy in the definition of wages; to amend Section 41-10-30,
 relating to notice and recordkeeping for wages and deductions, so as to delete
 wage increases from the requirements and to limit to three years the time
 during which employers shall retain the name, address, wage, and deduction
 information of employees; to amend Section 41-10-70, relating to
 investigations of payment of wage complaints by the Commissioner of Labor, so
 as to delete the Commissioner's authority to decide disputes; and to amend
 Section 41-10-80, relating to violations and penalties with respect to payment
 of wages, so as to make permissive the assessment of civil penalties for first
 violations of the Payment of Wages Law, to limit civil penalties for multiple
 offenses arising from one transaction, to provide that an employee may recover
 in a civil action the full amount of unpaid wages and the court may award an
 amount equal to twice the unpaid wages if the unpaid wages are less than five
 thousand dollars, to delete the court's authority to award three times the
 amount of unpaid wages, to provide that a civil action to recover unpaid wages
 must be brought within two years after the wages became due, to make a
 claimant employee liable for his employer's reasonable attorneys' fees if the
 court determines the action ill-founded or brought for purposes of harassment,
 to require the Commissioner of Labor's review of civil penalties to conform to
 the Administrative Procedures Act, and to delete the criminal penalty against
 certain employers failing to pay wages within ten days after written demand.
   04/27/89  House  Introduced and read first time HJ-5
   04/27/89  House  Referred to Committee on Labor, Commerce and
                     Industry HJ-6
   02/27/90  House  Tabled in committee