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My Turn: The conservative case for a prevailing wage (NH)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

By TROY MERNER
Published: 5/8/2019 12:10:20 AM

There’s an old saying that the best social welfare program is a “good-paying job with excellent benefits,” and I couldn’t possibly agree more. While most elected officials agree with this idea in principle, we often disagree on the best path forward. New Hampshire has some of the best-trained and hardest workers in the country, and it’s high time we treated them accordingly. This is why I’m asking my fellow Republicans to support Senate Bill 271 and finally establish a prevailing wage in New Hampshire.

Prevailing wage law states that contractors must offer competitive wages and benefits on taxpayer-funded projects. This accomplishes two things: First, it ensures that public projects enjoy a quality of workmanship that cut-rate contractors cannot provide, saving taxpayers millions of dollars over the long term. Second, it affords locally trained New Hampshire workers the ability to work close to home. Many of our best-trained workers are forced to seek employment in neighboring states where prevailing wage ensures that pay is higher, while local construction jobs go to out-of-state contractors offering a lower quality of service.

A recent study by economists at the Keystone Research Center, a nonpartisan economic policy organization, concluded that establishing a prevailing wage in New Hampshire would add up to 4,000 local jobs to our economy because it would diminish out-of-state contractors’ ability to undercut our local workforce. This law would also provide health coverage to approximately 2,500 construction workers – reducing the number of our hard-working men and women who rely on the government for assistance. The same study concluded that passing a prevailing wage would increase economic activity by $680 million in New Hampshire and raise up to $17 million in new state and local tax revenue.

Passing a prevailing wage also establishes an enforcement protocol to ensure that contractors don’t miscategorize workers or hire undocumented workers to artificially lower their bids. This malicious practice both undercuts our local workforce and provides a lower quality of service on taxpayer-funded projects.

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(Troy Merner, a Lancaster Republican, represents Coos District 7 in the N.H. House of Representatives.)

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Lawmakers to vote to make wage theft a felony crime in Minnesota (MN)

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Law also increases state’s budget for enforcement.

By Stephen Montemayor
MAY 23, 2019 – 8:40PM

Minnesota lawmakers and labor groups hailed a bipartisan agreement Thursday to hold employers responsible for holding back workers’ wages, one of the nation’s firmest policies to beat back wage theft.

For the first time, refusing to pay workers would be a felony under an agreement lawmakers plan to vote on in special session. The law would also broaden the state’s ability to prosecute employers in an effort to prevent the loss of an estimated $12 million in unpaid wages from roughly 39,000 Minnesota workers each year.

“In my view it’s the best piece of policy legislation that’s going to pass and I’m very happy about it,” Attorney General Keith Ellison said in an interview Thursday.

Under the new law, wage theft in excess of $1,000 would become a felony crime. It would also penalize retaliation against employees who report wage theft. It also boosts the Department of Labor and Industry’s budget by nearly $4 million to expand prevention and inspection efforts.

Labor and Industry Commissioner Nancy Leppink, who called for the new law and increased resources to enforce it, praised the deal on Thursday.

“The Wage Theft law will level the playing field for Minnesota employers who both play by the rules and create decent jobs for their workers,” Leppink said in a statement Thursday. “The law will also ensure workers receive the wages they have earned.”

The issue emerged as a leading priority for House Democrats early this session and was also backed Sen. Eric Pratt, a Prior Lake Republican. Ellison and Leppink also called for new legislation criminalizing the practice. Wage theft can occur when employers don’t compensate workers through measures like failing to pay overtime, misclassifying employees as independent contractors or declining to pay them outright.

Despite early disagreements on how to craft the law in a way that protected both workers and Minnesota businesses, Pratt and state Rep. Tim Mahoney, DFL-St. Paul, the bill’s House sponsor, managed to strike a deal that was acceptable to state officials and labor groups.

“A couple things we always agreed on is if you earn a wage you should be paid a wage – that was the underlying value statement that we shared which really enabled us to work on this together,” Pratt said. “Every job has its dignity and we need to be able to make sure that every Minnesota worker is treated with dignity.”

Mahoney added that stronger wage theft laws and enforcement would also benefit businesses that find themselves undercut by competitors who can get by with illegally failing to pay their workers. He took issue with language in the bill’s criminal section that requires proof of “intent to defraud,” which he said can be very difficult to prove in many cases.

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OP-ED: CONSTRUCTION WORKERS MISCLASSIFIED AS CONTRACTORS – AN OUTRAGE (NJ)

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RICHARD E. TOLSON
MAY 7, 2019

‘Wealthy developers are taking advantage of labor laws and outdated regulation and enforcement to increase profit margins’

National civil rights and economic justice leaders gathered in New Brunswick late last week for the 2019 Summit for Civil Rights, and I was honored to join legendary leader Congressman Jim Clyburn on a panel at the event. It was privilege for New Jersey to host this event, but it was also ironic considering the injustices happening in our own backyard, and in plain sight.

It’s not often thought of as top-tier issue, but the gross, widespread and often crippling injustices imposed on working men and women in the construction industry in our state measure up as significant abuse and perpetuate structural inequality. While we purport to stand for fairness, all across our state, wealthy developers are taking advantage of labor laws and outdated regulation and enforcement to increase profit margins by abusing workers. And it has to stop.

These are millionaires utilizing middlemen to break state and federal laws by misclassifying full-time workers as contractors – denying them basic benefits and rights like healthcare, committing wage theft by paying below the required living wage, establishing illegal work weeks, paying cash and evading taxes – all to increase already record profits from rents and property sales.

A 2016 Stockton University report conservatively estimated that the developers are stealing more than $25 million in state tax revenue annually via these illegal tactics. But far worse, this theft involves approximately 35,000 workers who are off the books or illegally misclassified as independent contractors. An entire underground economy has been allowed to fester, all built on the abuse of workers, for the benefit of multimillionaires.

Not exactly a high-water mark for civil rights, huh?

(Read Me)

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Texas bill would create public database of wage thieves (TX)

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Written by Ryan Johnston
MAY 3, 2019 | STATESCOOP

Under a new bill making its way through the Texas legislature, the state would create a publicly searchable database of companies and employers that commit wage theft – a serious problem in a state that only sees 50 percent of offenders pay back stolen wages.

The bill, introduced last November by Democratic state Rep. Mary Gonzalez, would require the state’s workforce commission to maintain the database of offenders. Wage theft can take different forms, such as employers skimping on overtime for hourly workers or paying below minimum wage, which has been $7.25 per hour in Texas since 2009.

The database that would be created under Gonzalez’s bill would publish the names of each manager, owner and business that purposely withheld wages from employees and never paid them back. Though the bill doesn’t punish offenders monetarily, it would give workers, activists and politicians the ability to identify consistent violators. Right now, that information is only available through a public records request, something potential employees are unlikely to make of their future employer, particularly if they’re undocumented.

But the bill would give offending employers time to pay owed wages before they are added to the database. Companies that are ordered by the state’s labor commission to pay back wages have 30 days to do so; if they don’t comply, the state has 180 days to notify them they’re going to be added to the database, during which they can dispute the offense. Once an employer is added to the database, though, the identifying information would be searchable for three years or until they’re convicted of having committed wage theft.

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‘Put The Exploiters In Jail’: Wage Theft Bill Cracks Down On Employers

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By Shaun Boyd
April 2, 2019 at 6:40 pm

The Colorado Fiscal Institute says more than 500,000 Colorado workers are victims of wage theft each year, losing an estimated $750 million. And right now, there’s little prosecutors can do about it.

Under current state law, wage theft is a misdemeanor, no matter if it’s $100 or $100,000. Representatives Jonathan Singer and Meg Froelich plan to change that.

“When a hard day’s work is put in, an honest day’s pay is deserved,” said Singer.

He and Froelich have introduced a bill that would align wage theft with other thefts. If it’s over $2,000, it would be a felony.

“Wage theft is perpetrated against the most vulnerable workers,” said Froelich.

It is especially common in the construction and food service industries. Jim Gleason, a carpenter, says he was a victim.

“We were getting paid every week until about the 4th or 5th week and we were informed that there wasn’t enough money to make payroll so if we didn’t mind waiting a week, we’d pay for two weeks the next week,” he said. “Well, the next week came and there was no check. It’s time we put the exploiters in jail and got the penalties that they deserve and give the wages to the people who deserve them.”

The Colorado District Attorney’s Council agrees.

“Why is it that someone should face a greater penalty for stealing your cellphone then for having your wages stolen?” asked Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty. “It is the exact same offense and should be treated the same under law and until we do so we’re going to allow immigrants and poor people in this state to be victimized.”

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Proposed labor watchdog would give city’s worker protection laws some teeth (IL)

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April 18, 2018
By Matt Kiefer

A series of recent labor reforms promised to give Chicago workers wage theft protection, boost minimum wages and guarantee paid sick time. But those promises come up empty when it comes to enforcement, workers and labor advocates say.

Enter the Office of Labor Standards, a proposed new City Hall regulatory agency that would have the power to enforce city labor ordinances, investigate claims, process complaints, issue fines and recommend other penalties. Thirty-five alderman have signed in support of an ordinance establishing the new office.

At a Wednesday morning press conference, 47th Ward Ald. Ameya Pawar announced a proposed ordinance that would consolidate the city’s labor regulation authorities under the Office of Labor Standards.

“This is the logical conclusion to passing three major progressive policies to protect workers,” Pawar said, referring to the wage theft, minimum wage and sick time ordinances that City Council has approved over the past five years. “Because it doesn’t matter if you pass it if people aren’t receiving those benefits.”

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“We need an office dedicated to taking reports from workers like me and looking into companies who systematically steal wages,” Guerrero, a member of the labor advocacy group Arise Chicago, recounted in Spanish through a translator at today’s press conference. “When workers like me know the city has our back, we will feel safer to come forward.”

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As proposed, the Officer of Labor Standards would be responsible for collecting complaints without identifying workers to their employers. Unless the worker and employer agree to settle the case, the office would be required to complete investigations within 60 days. A business found in violation would be liable for unpaid wages and fines, and would become ineligible to bid on city contracts for one year. Those with “willful” or repeat violations could have their business licenses revoked.
Aldermen said they modeled the proposed labor standards office after similar municipal agencies in Seattle, New York and San Francisco.

They added that they will work with the mayor’s office to allocate funding for the office, which would include a director (appointed by the mayor and confirmed by City Council) and an unspecified number of investigators and lawyers. Part of the office’s funding would come from fines levied on businesses found in violation of city ordinances, though proceeds would also support community-based outreach programs to inform workers and employers of protections under city law.

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DOUGHERTY: Enforce the laws protecting workers (CO)

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BY MICHAEL DOUGHERTY
JAN 27, 2018

No one who works should be paid less than what they are owed. As Pueblo’s economy bounces back, protecting the workforce fueling our economy is now more important than ever. Colorado’s attorney general can and should play a key role in that vital effort because our labor force is the cornerstone of economic strength.

Other states have shown us the value of having an attorney general who enforces the rules and standards that guarantee basic employment rights. As attorney general, I pledge to engage the personnel and resources of my office to protect Colorado’s workforce.

Colorado’s workers are entitled to the right to be paid for a day’s work; the right to receive the minimum wage and any overtime pay or tips that are earned; the right to full payment of promised wages, without illegal deductions; and the right to have state and federal labor standards enforced.

As Coloradans, we have recognized how important these principles are. In 2016, Coloradans voted to raise the state’s minimum wage, with increases implemented over the next three years that far surpass the federal minimum wage — although it is still not enough for a lot of families. In 2014, the governor authorized the Wage Protection Act, giving the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment a better enforcement process to help employees who are denied their rightful wages. And last year, we passed a law requiring wage theft transparency, so that information is now available to the public about employers who are cited for stealing wages.

But there is much more to be done to ensure that our workforce is treated fairly. Coloradans are subjected to an estimated $750 million in wage theft every year. CDLE is on the frontline of this problem, handling the hundreds of individual wage complaints filed every year. But to truly advance fair treatment in Colorado’s workplaces, we need to take action on the broader problems affecting whole sectors of workers. Large portions of our workforce like those employed in the retail, restaurant, hotel and construction industries are particularly vulnerable to violations of labor laws.

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Columnist Dennis Bidwell: Addressing downtown Northampton’s challenges (MA)

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By DENNIS BIDWELL

Monday, June 05, 2017
The Northampton City Council Committee on Community Resources, through public forums and a variety of presentations and submitted reports, has learned a great deal about both the strengths of the local economy, particularly as it affects downtown Northampton and the center of Florence, and about a variety of local challenges.
The efforts of the Pioneer Valley Workers Center and several labor unions produced considerable testimony, particularly from restaurant and construction workers, about their experiences with some local employers failing to comply with wage and labor laws. We also heard from restaurant owners describing their compliance with these laws, as well as their concern that the media’s attention on just one perspective about the issue left many restaurant owners feeling they were maligned as a group.

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This attention to wage-theft issues yielded three actions taken by the city. First, issuance by the mayor of an executive order requiring that all contractors seeking procurement contracts with the city, or seeking tax increment financing agreements, certify their compliance with wage and hour laws. Second, passage by the City Council of a resolution declaring Northampton a fair employment city, and calling on the city’s License Commission and Community Preservation Committee to adopt similar requirements regarding contractor certifications. And third, urging additional wage-theft enforcement powers and resources for the state attorney general’s office, and approval of a council order requiring all applicants coming before the council for licenses to affirm their compliance with wage and labor laws.

Santa Fe judge allows wage-theft enforcement suit to continue

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

By T.S. Last/Journal NorthFriday, April 28th, 2017 at 4:56pm

SANTA FE – District Court Judge David K. Thomson on Friday rejected a motion by the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions to dismiss a lawsuit filed claiming the department was not enforcing state wage theft laws.

The lawsuit was filed in January by four people who say they were victims of wage theft and a coalition of workers’ rights groups. They allege that the department doesn’t hold guilty employers liable for statutory damages during the administrative enforcement phase of a case; improperly imposes a $10,000 cap on investigating wage theft claims; doesn’t investigate or take action against a business when a claim is more than a year old; and refuses claims when workers get snagged by administrative red tape.

“This ruling reaffirms that every hard working New Mexican – not just those with the money to hire lawyers – deserves to be paid for their work,” Elizabeth Wagoner of the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs, said in a news release. “Our state government cannot turn a blind eye when employers break laws protecting working people.”

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Total netted from state’s misclassification fight exceeds $1.1 million

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By: Dan Shaw, dan.shaw@dailyreporter.com
March 15, 2017 4:54 pm

State officials’ efforts to crack down on companies that misclassify direct employees as independent contractors has generated more than $1 million for the state’s unemployment-benefits system over the past few years.

The state began stepping up its enforcement of misclassification laws several years ago. Since then, those efforts have recovered nearly $1.13 million worth of in unpaid unemployment-insurance taxes, penalties and interest, according to a report on the state’s unemployment fund released by the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development on Wednesday.

Worker misclassification is believed to be particularly rampant in the construction industry, where frequent seasonal layoffs can blur the line between a permanent employee and someone hired for a particular job. Industry officials say deliberate misclassification not only deprives the state of unemployment taxes and other resources; it also gives dishonest companies an advantage by enabling them to avoid the sort of costs that their more scrupulous rivals often end up rolling into bid prices.

The state reported Wednesday that auditors found 8,613 misclassified workers at Wisconsin companies last year. The same year saw tipsters use a state-run website to report 59 instances of suspected misclassification.

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