NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | August 18, 2017 | PAGE 17
Dems introduce wage theft ban
WASHINGTON, D.C. (PAI)
— Saying too many bosses steal
workers’ wages, congressional
Democrats introduced legisla-
tion to crack down on wage
theft through stiff fines, en-
abling worker class action law-
suits, and, in the worst cases,
threats of criminal prosecution.
The measure is designed in
particularly to help low-wage
workers. Citing Economic Pol-
icy Institute data, they said em-
ployers steal at least $15 billion
yearly from workers.
“While the vast majority of
employers do the right thing and
treat workers fairly, too many
others force their workers to
work off the clock, refuse to pay
workers the minimum wage,
deny workers overtime pay
even after they work more than
40 hours a week, steal workers’
tips, or knowingly misclassify
workers to avoid paying fair
wages,”said Senate co-sponsor
Ed Markey (D-Mass).
Key provisions of the legisla-
tion would:
• Require employers to pay all
wages to a wage theft victim.
Current law lets such victims re-
cover only the minimum wage,
plus overtime pay.
• Require employers to provide ini-
tial disclosures of the terms of
their employment and regular
paystubs to all workers, and fine
them if they don’t.
• Order the employer to give a
worker his or her final paycheck
within two weeks of the
worker’s departure or the by the
end of the relevant pay period,
whichever is shorter.
• Fine the employer $2,000 for each
violation of the federal mini-
mum wage and overtime pay
law, or for not giving workers
their “full compensation” when
they leave. Willful or repeat of-
fenders would face $10,000
fines per violation. Right now,
repeaters face $1,100 fines and
first-timers aren’t fined at all.
• Increase damages wage theft vic-
tims can claim, from twice the
owed wages to triple the owed
wages, plus interest. The worker
victim would also have four
years, not two, to file a wage-
theft claim. And if the employer
retaliates against a worker-
turned-whistleblower, the em-
ployer would face a fine of
quadruple the owed wages, plus
interest.
• Raise the fines on employers who
keep sloppy records, or none at
all, in their attempts to avoid
convictions for wage theft.
• Make it easier for employees to
take collective action to recover
their stolen wages. Right now,
workers must ‘opt-in’ to engage
in a collective action under the
minimum wage and overtime
pay law. The new legislation
would automatically include
them unless they opt out.
• Order the Labor Department
to send cases of comprehensive
wage theft to the Justice Depart-
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ment for prosecution of the em-
ployers.
Democrat Patty Murray of
Washington is a co-sponsor of
the legislation.
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