You might refer to the law as stated by the legislature.
§210 says that
(a) In addition to, and entirely independent and apart from, any other
penalty provided in this article, every person who fails to pay the
wages of each employee as provided in Sections 201.3, 204, 204b,
204.1, 204.2, 204.11, 205, 205.5, and 1197.5, shall be subject to a penalty as follows:
(1) For any initial violation, one hundred dollars ($100) for each
failure to pay each employee.
(2) For each subsequent violation, or any willful or intentional
violation, two hundred dollars ($200) for each failure to pay each
employee, plus 25 percent of the amount unlawfully withheld.
The first time they are late in paying you, they have violated the law and are subject to a $100 penalty. Every violation after that is a subsequent violation, which has a higher penalty. Thus $4150, for the proffered numbers (but only if this is within the statute of limitations, 1 year). "Violation" is not defined in terms of an employee complaining, it is defined in terms of an employer not paying, so there are clearly 10 violations.
The DoL explanation says that
The higher penalty for subsequent violations will apply after notice
to the employer of a previous violation has been established,
regardless of whether penalties were actually assessed
does not mean that multiple violations are subsumed under one violation that accrues when notice is given; it means that they don't care when the penalty was actually assessed – this is for the case that the DoL handles the complaint. The employees can also file a claim.
Also note that the penalty goes to the state of California, and not the employee. The employee can get up to 25% of the penalty under the Private Attorney's General Act. This page gives some details on filing wage claims. Regarding options, they say that "The most obvious is to raise the issue with their employer and resolve it informally", bypassing official court action.