Naranjo

Opinion of the Court by Kruger, J.

California law requires employers to provide their employees with written wage statements listing gross and net wages earned, hourly pay rates, hours worked, and other employment-related information. (Lab. Code, § 226.) If a claimant demonstrates that an employer has failed to comply with this requirement, the claimant is entitled to an injunction compelling compliance and an award of costs and reasonable attorney’s fees. (Id., subd. (h).) But in the case of a “knowing and intentional failure . . . to comply,” the law provides for statutory penalties of up to $4,000 or the employee’s actual damages, should the employee’s damages exceed the statutory penalties. (Id., subd. (e)(1).) The question presented is whether an employer has knowingly and intentionally failed to comply with section 226’s requirements when the employer had a good faith, yet erroneous, belief that it was in compliance. This case returns to us after we resolved a division in state and federal courts about whether the law requires employers to treat certain amounts — premium pay awarded for the deprivation of a lawful meal or rest break — as wages earned for purposes of…