Salem Set To Battle Restaurant Worker Wage Theft With City Ordinance

SALEM, MA — The Salem City Council this fall will consider an ordinance designed to crack down on worker wage theft within its vast hospitality business industry.

The ordinance, as presented at Thursday's Council meeting, would require city vendors to certify their compliance with federal and state wage laws, to report violations and provide a wage bond, and strengthen the city's ability to "hire vendors that treat their employees fairly."

It would also prohibit city departments from contracting with debarred vendors and require the potential and current recipients of tax relief agreements and licenses to comply with applicable wage laws.

Wage-theft ordinance supporters said that the issue has become rampant in the restaurant business.

"If you are a business that plays by the rules you are at a disadvantage," City Councilor Jeff Cohen said. "If we all go into a restaurant, and someone on the wait staff hustles and is nice to us as customers, we don't know if they've been paid their rightful amount."

Councilor said that wage theft disproportionally affects low-income, immigrant and limited English-proficient workers.

"This is an ordinance that is very personal to me having spent years as an hourly worker and had to fight many to get the pay that I felt like I deserved," City Councilor Lev McClain said. "I really realized the value of my overtime and how difficult it was to make those ends meet. I think it's just as important as we move forward on this to bring home the idea that not only is about creating a fair playing field for those who do business in Salem the right way, but it is an intensely personal conversation for a city like Salem that has such a robust restaurant industry."

McClain noted that in the last six months, there have been multiple restaurants in Salem that were the subject of wage-theft claims and penalties.

"This is really about who we are as a community right here in Salem not just in an esoteric way but in a really specific way," he said. "I am really looking forward to the conversation of how we can improve conditions for the workers."

Councilor Andy Varela said as a career industry worker he had been subject to instances of wage theft "all of my life" both in California and New York, as well as locally in Danvers, Peabody and Salem.

"This is a normal act and, you could say, the business model of some of our businesses here," he said. "Something has to change.

"I think this is a complete benefit to our restaurant workers who do not usually have a voice in this or legal representation when wages are taken."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)