Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

I suppose even if the employee had no reason to believe that the check might bounce [his supervisor said to hold off on cashing it, he knew the company was going into bankruptcy], he would still be liable. If you innocently buy stolen merchandise from what appears to be a legitimate source and then sell it to a customer, but before the produce is used or consumed the real owner appears and demands the return of the stolen object, your customer has to give the object to the original owner, you have to pay the customer back, and you end up stuck with your payment made unless you can catch the crooks who sold the objects to you. Probably there are no statutes that say that , but there should be several cases on it or similar situations. Try to goggle it.

The business that failed to have the adequate funds is of course liable to you, but find out first why the check bounced, as it could have been a bank error, etc. Then ask the employer for full reimbursement of your costs [amount of check, bounced check fee, perhaps your time and expense].

The bounced check statute is set forth in Civil Code section 1719. It is pretty comprehensive, and if carefully followed, can give you an award of enhanced penalties.

The employer is also liable to the employee for one day's wages for each day until the amount is paid or until the employee files an action to recover the wages, up to a maximum of 30 day's wages. The employee must have atempted to cash or deposit the paycheck within 30 days of receiving it. (Lab. Code, sect. 203.1.) There is also criminal liability for an employer who issues a payroll check on insufficient funds.