LOS ANGELES, CA — The Los Angeles City Council Wednesday instructed city attorneys to draft changes to the municipal code to effectuate new protections for low-wage workers and penalize employers who fail to provide overtime pay and mandated breaks.
In a 12-2 vote, the council approved a motion by members Hugo Soto- Martinez, Tim McOsker and Katy Yaroslavsky, marking a milestone for an effort that began in 2023.
The council instructed city attorneys to draft amendments to Los Angeles Municipal Code Section 188.00 and necessary ordinances for the benefit of workers earning two-thirds or less of the median household income in the city.
City Councilwomen Monica Rodriguez and Traci Park voted against the matter, and Yaroslavsky was absent during the vote.
By prioritizing such workers, the Bureau of Contract Administration Office of Wage Standard would be able to investigate and increase enforcement against employers who fail to provide overtime payment or late pay, and meal and rest breaks.
The proposed amendments would also grant the director of the Bureau of Contract Administration the authority to issue administrative subpoenas.
Additionally, the motion instructs the Office of Wage Standard to develop a database or online website where residents can find information regarding workplace complaints, completed investigations that resulted in a violation and associated penalties, among other information.
Soto-Martinez said the motion was necessary to protect workers across the city, adding that Los Angeles has the unfortunate distinction of being the "wage theft capital of the world."
"Every year, more than $1.4 billion in wages are stolen from working Angelenos. It's $1.4 billion, and 88% of those low-wage workers in LA experience some sort of wage theft, and they lose an average of 12% of their annual income due to wage theft."
He said city laws ensure workers get paid, but they can only enforce the citywide minimum wage. The laws lack enforcement for when employees work through their lunch break or don't take their 10-minute rest break, or when they have to work off the clock for whatever reason, according to Soto- Martinez.
"When these employers steal from people, they're not hurting workers, they're hurting entire communities," Soto-Martinez said.
Rodriguez criticized the proposal because she said the process failed to thoroughly vet for potential impacts to industry. She raised concerns about how the new regulations might create duplicative procedures as the state already conducts investigative oversight for wage theft. The councilwoman also lamented that the Bureau of Contract Administration is not fully funded and lacks the staffing to oversee the additional work.
"I find ourselves in a situation where it feels like a very false promise to the exploited individuals that are in fact fighting for the worker protections, and so these are the real implications of the decisions that we make," Rodriguez said.
She said the city would only be creating more barriers and potentially harming businesses that are desperately trying to remain intact.
McOsker countered Rodriguez's claim that city staff did not conduct comprehensive outreach on the matter, noting there were numerous hearings and committee sessions in the last three years. He said it was important for the city to step in where the state has failed, pointing to other issues such homelessness.
The councilman said he too was concerned about bureau's capacity because of staff turnover. McOsker said officials paused an effort to re- evaluate worker classification to ensure the bureau was prepared to recruit and retain workers.
"With today's action we'll be stepping in where the state has failed us. We will also be building up the resources and the ability of our long- established bureau to continue doing this work," McOsker said. "This was ... a legislative process where not everyone gets what they want, but it works a fairness for a vast majority of our constituents who will rely upon the good work of the department."
By Jose Herrera, City News Service
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