Not familiar with the laws of California but I think the spirit of the post is that the cops will be on your ass immediately and you will be put in jail if you walk with $100.

If your boss steals $100 from you it then becomes a matter for the courts before anyone in the company faces even the slightest threat of jail.

Because one of these things is stealing a possession, and one of these things is failing to pay a debt. And.we generally don't jail people for failing to pay debts, at least not immediately. And that's a good thing to, otherwise the poor would be getting jailed all the time.