California employment/labor law

[Wordy One]

On May 18, I started a new position with my employer of six years, a non-union exempt job with biweekly pay. (Previously, I was a union employee paid weekly.) I was not paid on either of the two subsequent pay days (May 28 or June 4, though I did receive my final union check on May 21).

I spoke to HR about this yesterday and was told that the payroll office had never switched my employment status even though they'd had my paperwork for close to 10 days, and that they would cut me a check as soon as possible, but, to quote the HR rep, "there's no telling" when that could be.

So...last night I looked at this section of the California employment code, which states that:

Labor performed
between the 1st and 15th days, inclusive, of any calendar month shall
be paid for between the 16th and the 26th day of the month during
which the labor was performed, and labor performed between the 16th
and the last day, inclusive, of any calendar month, shall be paid for
between the 1st and 10th day of the following month.

Do I understand this correctly? Is it true my employer will be in violation of the law if I'm not paid by June 10 for the work I performed between May 18 and May 31? If so, what recourse do I have, if any? And how would I go about claiming that recourse?

If I am misunderstanding it, or there are mitigating factors, is there any law that states when I must be paid for work performed?

I'm not particularly eager to call an attorney to start dealing with my employer, but their error is causing a bit of havoc with my finances.

Anyone have any legal knowledge or experience with something like this?