Wage bond registration

Definition

California's yearly registration for a hand or staffed car wash, which a $150,000 wage bond must back.

Why It Matters

In California a car washing and polishing employer may not conduct any business without registering with the Labor Commissioner every year, and registration needs a surety bond of at least $150,000 on file. The bond stands behind any employee damaged by unpaid wages, interest or fringe benefits, and a wash whose bond is cancelled must stop until a new one is filed. Registration is refused while a final wage judgment, unemployment contributions or payroll taxes go unpaid, and the application names every officer, manager and ten percent owner. Running unregistered costs a hundred dollars a day, up to ten thousand. Format decides whether any of it applies. A self-service or automated wash with staff only for cashiering or maintenance is outside the statute, so the question for an express tunnel is what its prep and towel crew does. The state publishes the register, so read it before the broker's book.