Dobarro

BACKGROUND

A.

To obtain review of a Labor Commissioner decision, a party must file a timely appeal to the superior court. (See Lab. Code, § 98.2, subd. (a); Burkes v. Robertson (2018) 26 Cal.App.5th 334, 341 (Burkes).) A party must file the appeal within 10 days of service of that decision, or within 15 days where, as here, the decision was served by mail. (See Lab. Code, § 98.2, subd. (a); Code Civ. Proc., § 1013, subd. (a).)

In addition, when an employer pursues an appeal, it must first post an undertaking in the amount of the challenged award. (See § 98.2, subd. (b); Burkes, supra, 26 Cal.App.5th at p. 344; Palagin v. Paniagua Construction., Inc. (2013) 222 Cal.App.4th 124, 130 (Palagin).) Because the undertaking is “a condition to filing an appeal” from a Labor Commissioner’s decision (§ 98.2, subd. (b)), the employer must either post the undertaking or, in the event of indigency, apply for a waiver within the same deadline applicable to the filing of an appeal. (See Burkes, at p. 344; Palagin, at p. 131.)

These procedures aim to encourage the prompt payment of wages due (Pressler v. Donald L. Bren Co. (1982) 32 Cal.3d 831, 837 (Pressler)) and to discourage employers from…