Workers March for Enforcement Measures to Halt LA's $1 Billion Wage Theft Probelm

Hundreds of garment, car wash, restaurant and other workers will march to Los Angeles City Hall today to urge city leaders to form an anti-wage theft bureau and adopt strong enforcement measures aimed at preventing employers from stiffing workers out of their wages.

The council is set to take up the wage theft measure on Tuesday, along with a plan to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2020.

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The march is organized by the Los Angeles Wage Theft and Raise the Wage coalitions which are pushing for the minimum wage hike and wage measures. The march will begin at the site of an employer accused of wage theft, then make its way to City Hall, where workers plan to visit the office of City Council members.

Los Angeles workers lose $1 billion from their paychecks through labor violations committed by their employers, according to a UCLA study cited by labor union SEIU. Wage theft could include workers not getting paid overtime, getting misclassified as independent contractors, and getting paid lower than the minimum wage.

The council on Tuesday will decide whether to set up a Division of Labor Standards, which would impose penalties to employers for each day wages are not paid to workers, operate an administrative appeals process, revoke city permits if an employer commits wage violations, and protect workers against retaliation from employees.

Members of the City Council recently proposed including $500,000 in the upcoming year’s budget to fund a bureau that would be staffed with up to five people.

The wage theft bureau is modeled after ones set up by cities such as San Francisco, which have adopted higher minimum wages than the state’s $9 per hour.

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City News Service

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