Assemblymember Gonzalez' AB 1003 Criminalizes Corporate Wage Theft
Wage theft ought to be a crime, especially when intentionality can be proved and the amounts owed rise to the level of grant theft.
But it’s not. And the California Chamber of Commerce wants to keep it that way.
That’s why Assemb. Lorena Gonzalez’ AB 1003, which would shift wage theft from being a civil violation to a potential misdemeanor or felony charge is on the Chamber’s Job Killer list for 2021.
"For too long, corporations have gotten away with stealing from their employees and faced nothing more than a slap on the wrist. When the so-called consequences companies face are less severe than the crime itself, it's no wonder that committing wage theft is treated as a simple business decision to boost an employer's bottom line.” --Assmb Gonzalez prepared statement
This bill would make the intentional theft of more than $950 in wages by an employer from one or more employees, punishable as grand theft. As a criminal charge, those found to be engaging in wage theft could face one to three years in jail.
The California Chamber is warning it’s members of potential prosecution under this law for “good faith” mistakes in the application of wage and hour laws. I don't know what “good faith” has to do with what’s an all-too-common business practice, especially with companies hiring immigrant workers.
https://twitter.com/LorenaSGonzalez/status/1374103932021051395?s=20
In 50% of cases where the California Labor Commissioner determined employer liability for owed wages, the employer sold, transferred or abandoned their business before the judgment was even delivered, according to a joint study by the UCLA Labor Center and National Employment Law Project.
Things are getting better, thanks to another “job killer” type law preventing fraudulent transfers and bankruptcies designed to hide assets, and improved enforcement at the state and local level..
Still, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, minimum wage violations in California alone occur approximately 372,000 times each week. Almost half the time, wage theft isn’t even reported — likely because workers are too intimidated by their employers, fearful of losing their jobs or wary of going to law enforcement.
So, unscrupulous operators have lined their pockets with billions of dollars. Because they can.
Take the ever-popular Cheesecake Factory Restaurants, for instance. Their janitorial contractors were nailed for wage violations in 2007 and 2010. You’d think that after getting busted twice, corporate headquarters would be extra vigilant when it comes to making sure things were on the up and up. But you’d be wrong.
In 2018, the state of California held Cheesecake Factory and its janitorial subcontractors liable in a $4.57 million wage theft case related to hundreds of underpaid employees at eight San Diego and Orange County locations.
Thanks to complaints initiated by the Employee Rights Center in San Diego, a nonprofit that assists low-wage workers without union representation, the Labor Commissioner’s Office found that 559 janitorial workers were due $3.94 million in minimum wages, overtime, liquidated damages, waiting time penalties, and meal and rest period premiums.
Earlier in March of this year, a California delivery service and Amazon.com Services were fined $6.4 million by the California Labor Commissioner’s Office for wage theft from delivery drivers.
Green Messenger’s website is gone. Its offices in Mission Valley, Anaheim, and Santa Ana are closed. The more than seven hundred workers victimized via frequent minimum wage, overtime, meal break, rest period and split-shift violations will have to look to Amazon to get paid.
And they shouldn’t hold their breath, despite a California law passed in 2015 that holds clients responsible for labor law violations of subcontractors.
From industry publication Freightwaves.com:
“The California Labor Commissioner is investigating an independent business we previously partnered with. We were not aware of the investigation and are appealing the citation,” Amazon spokesperson Leah Seay told Modern Shipper.
Under California’s appeal process, the Labor Commissioner’s Office will have a hearing officer hear the appeal and either affirm, modify or dismiss the citations.
Amazon, by the way, is the second-largest private employer in the country. And they are facing unrest from employees. Six thousand Amazon warehouse workers in Bessemer, Alabama are currently voting on whether to unionize, and we’ll know the results this week.
Getting back to Assemb. Gonzalez’ AB 1003, the pushback includes the ridiculous claim that everything’s just fine the way it is.
From the Sacramento Business Journal:
Business advocates say that the current protections are sufficient to keep employers accountable, according to John Kabateck, California state director for the National Federation of Independent Business. Kabateck said that while the proposed legislation is still "early in the process," it appears to be an "attempt to curry favor with unions and trial lawyers."
"It seems to be yet another unnecessary and onerous attempt to harm our No. 1 job creators in this state: small businesses," Kabateck said.
It’s not nearly as onerous as having to wait five or more years for pay owed by an unscrupulous employer.
Gonzalez, by the way, is one of few state lawmakers with a decent track record against the Chamber’s Job Killer list.
***
Stupid Republican Tricks, not masked and running for office edition:
https://twitter.com/SD_stoopcrone/status/1376341499374305286?s=20
Hey folks! Be sure to like/follow Words & Deeds on Facebook. If you’d like to have each post emailed to you check out the simple subscription form on the right side of the front page.
Email me at WritetoDougPorter@Gmail.com