As strong advocates to stop wage theft, the Fair Shot For All Coalition started this legislative session with a short agenda that included a bill intended to make it more difficult for companies to get away with cheating workers out of pay, Senate Bill 1587. However, a key provision of the bill was removed that would have allowed workers to reclaim their stolen wages and sue for damages through private legal action when the employer repeatedly refuses to comply with the statute and other means to seek justice fail.
While Senate Bill 1587 is a first step toward protecting workers from wage theft, the reality is that it’s going to take more to fix what’s broken with our system. The barriers for workers to reclaim their stolen wages remain despite this bill.
The Fair Shot For All Coalition is neutral on SB 1587 but remains committed to this issue. We will come back with legislation in 2017 that prevents workers from being robbed of their hard earned pay and holds intentional and excessive violators accountable for shortchanging workers. We are putting dishonest employers on notice: we won’t stop fighting until workers can be sure they will be paid what they’re owed.