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The following is a Map provided by wagetheft.org showing the nation-wide response to the Wage Theft Epidemic along with brief descriptions of some examples of the campaigns:
Red - Wage Theft State Law Campaign
Green - Wage Theft City Ordinance Campaign
Blue - Independent Contractor Misclassification Campaign
Flag - Campaign Successful
Miami-Dade County, Florida
The result of a successful one-year campaign effort between the South Florida Interfaith Worker Justice Movement (SFIWJM) and the South Florida Wage Theft Task Force, a wage theft ordinance was passed in Miami-Dade County in February 2010. Through the ordinance, the county created a quicker, low-cost streamlined process with public hearings through which workers can file suits against employers who have wrongly denied them pay, and can recover two times the amount in additional damages. The collaborating groups justified through fight, claiming that when workers get paid what they're owed, they are less likely to depend on public services. And when the county helps workers get paid, the money flows back into the community, stimulating the local economy.
New York
The Wage Theft Prevention Act was signed by Governor David Patterson on December 13, 2010 and will take effect on April 12, 2011. The act provides for additional employee protections and harsher penalty provisions for abusive employers. Some of the key provisions include: notice and language requirements (documentation about pay must be available in the employees’ first language), recordkeeping and itemized wage statements, protection from retaliation, collection of liquidated damages and reinstatement/ backpay or forward pay, and criminal and monetary penalties (misdemeanor for first time offence with fines between $500 and $20,000 or one year imprisonment)for non-compliant employers.
Los Angeles
Los Angeles is currently in the process of passing a city wide ordinance to combat wage theft. Councilman Richard Alarcon has championed the effort, motivated by a recent study that showed many low-wage workers in Los Angeles, New York and Chicago often don’t receive minimum wage or overtime pay. The language contained in the bill stipulates that wage theft would be classified as a misdemeanor for which the non-compliant employer would be required to pay between $2,000 and $15,000 in fines, and/or face up to 6 months in jail. Businesses would also be required to obtain a wage theft and tax compliance permit from the city in order to conduct business. The ordinance would be enforced by the wage theft commission (funded through the fines employers pay), the city police (who will investigate and document cases of wage theft), and the city attorney (who will be charged with collection efforts including securing liens on property of non-compliant employers).
New Orleans
The New Orleans Center for Racial Justice has developed a wage theft ordinance which, as of September 2010, was being negotiated with the mayor’s office and other officials at city hall; New Orleans City Councilman, Arnie Fielkow, has offered his support in pushing the bill forward.
Illinois
In July 2010, Governor Pat Quinn signed an anti-wage theft law that was pushed by the Working Hands Legal Clinic in Chicago and Interfaith Worker Justice. The law took effect on January 1, 2011, and forces employers to pay back wages plus interest and fines. It has been said the law will specifically benefit those who are most vulnerable- including low-wage, temporary and immigrant workers- who are often paid in cash, and fear retaliation if they speak up.
Specifically, the new law gives the state Department of Labor more oversight in dealing with the more than 10,000 wage theft claims it receives each year, and the department will have authority to directly adjudicate claims of $3,000 or less. Also, for repeat offending employers, stealing wages will become a felony offense, as opposed to a misdemeanor, and employers will be assessed fines and interest on wages owed, and be forced to pay the employees’ legal fees- an important incentive for lawyers. Another important provision is that employees are able to sue individual owners, not just companies, which is significant in cases when a company goes bankrupt and has no assets from which to collect.
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