Victory! Wage Theft Bill Signed in New York

by Taylor Leake · 2011-01-14 05:00:00 UTC
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Early in December, the New York State Assembly passed the historic "Wage Theft Prevention Act." The assembly's passage followed the state senate, which passed the bill over the summer. Governor Patterson was the only thing standing in the way of keeping this important bill from becoming a law.

Change.org members sprung into action, emailing Governor Patterson and urging him to sign the bill that would increase penalties for companies that steal from their employees and offer further protections for workers.

Thanks to your efforts, right before the holidays, outgoing Governor Patterson signed into law the "Wage Theft Prevention Act."

The act will better protect 300,000 New York residents whose wages are stolen on a regular basis. It could be that a boss is illegally paying below the minimum wage, or refusing to pay overtime, or forcing employees to work through breaks without pay. Whatever the case, these practices cost New Yorkers $18.4 million every week, or nearly $1 billion a year according to a recent study conducted by the National Employment Law Project.

The new bill will stiffen penalties for stealing wages. It used to be that workers who won a wage theft case got back pay plus 25 percent, but under the new bill companies would have to pay workers double the backpay they have stolen. And anyone caught firing or disciplining a workers who complains about stolen wages will be fined up to $10,000. The law also simplifies the process for making a claim against bosses who are stealing. Jeff Mansfield of the Restaurant Opportunity Center, a worker's center that began in New York and targets restaurants that steal wages from its employees says the bill is "a step in the right direction, and definitely a deterrent. It’s going to help strengthen workers’ ability to organize against employers who are doing the wrong thing.”

This is a fantastic victory, for sure, but it is also just a part of a national movement to end wage theft, which happens all over the country, not just New York. Slowly but surely, organizations like Interfaith Worker Justice, the Restaurant Opportunity Center and more are making headway.

To see what you can do in your community, check out Interfaith Worker Justice's webpage and read up on the issue.

Photo Credit:  MikeWu

Taylor Leake has advocated for workers' rights for years, from running his college chapter of United Students Against Sweatshops to working for the Wake Up Walmart campaign.
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