Legislators can protect workers’ rights by partnering with AGs
The fight for worker’s rights rages on through the pandemic. Everyone deserves a safe workplace, yet the average American worker currently finds themselves in a troubling situation: risk their health or go to work. Millions of Americans are relying on elected officials to enact policies that will protect their rights and ensure their safety. Fortunately, workers are not the only ones calling for strong reforms such as paid sick leave, recovering stolen wages, and fighting misclassification of workers, amongst many others.
A new EPI report documents the dramatic increase in the involvement of state attorneys general (AGs) in protecting workers’ rights in the past two years. The report recommends that state legislatures grant attorney general offices jurisdiction to enforce workplace rights laws. It also urges state AGs to expand their involvement in this area using a range of their existing powers and authority.
“Many workers held precarious jobs and experienced high rates of wage theft and retaliation... In response to the dire challenges facing workers today, a number of state AGs have emerged as leaders in enforcing and protecting workers’ rights,” said Terri Gerstein, director of the State and Local Enforcement Project at the Harvard Labor and Worklife Program, and a senior fellow at EPI.
Unfortunately, several states have already taken steps to grant business liability protections from workers’ lawsuits during the COVID-19 crisis. These liability laws have dire consequences such as unsafe conditions for both workers and daily consumers.
The State Innovation Exchange commissioned a recent poll surveying Americans in ten states and it revealed that voters strongly support policies that would provide immediate pocketbook relief for families and workers. Even more, results show that a majority of voters side with workplace safety requirements over liability protections for corporations (55% to 26%).
There are a number of common sense measures state and local officials should be considering to put worker and public health front and center. To see what else you can do to help keep workers safe, visit SiX’s Coronavirus Response Resources page.
For more on the Economic Policy Institute, see their report and press release.
Wage Theft Policy Playbook
No matter where we come from or what our color, most of us work hard for our families. But today, our families, local economies, and communities are being exploited by certain greedy CEOs who are stealing billions of dollars in wages earned by working Americans.
Fortunately, thanks to progressive state legislators, anti-wage theft policies are being advanced across the nation to punish greedy employers and support workers. Check out our brand new Wage Theft Policy Playbook for communications and messaging guidance, a menu of policy solutions, and additional resources to support your efforts to combat wage theft in your state.
See the playbook for more information about the problem, the solution, and how to advocate for workers.
As always, reach out to helpdesk@stateinnovation.org with any questions or suggestions.
Wage theft is a catchall term for a range of situations in which an employer fails to pay an employee. It can take many forms—from employers paying employees less than the minimum wage or failing to pay overtime to withholding tips, not providing employees with their final paycheck, or requiring employees to work off the clock. These forms of theft hurt working families by threatening basic living standards and causing economic instability, reducing tax revenues, and harming local economies and businesses that follow the rules.
To improve upon federal protections, states have enacted legislation to address wage theft, including increasing the cost to employers for violating wage and hour laws, targeting bad actors to prevent repeat offenses, empowering state and local wage enforcement authorities, and improving small claims court administrative processes for wage theft cases. While these measures have begun to address the problem in certain states, wage theft remains a significant issue in most of the country, with one study finding that 68% of respondents had experienced at least one pay-related violation in the last week alone.
Wage theft covers a variety of infractions that occur when working people do not receive their legally or contractually promised wages.
Our Wage Theft “Policy Playbook” is a summary of resources that we have compiled from state and national advocates, organizers, and leading policy organizations across the country. Here you will find communications and messaging guidance, a menu of policy solutions, legislative language, and national organizations and experts who can support your efforts.
As a reminder, legislators are always encouraged to work with state partners to assess the local and state dynamics and to craft the strongest and most feasible legislation for their state—ensuring alignment with the work of groups in the field. On a related note, this resource is not meant to supersede working with advocacy organizations and policy experts to chart the most effective path for introducing such legislation. To get connected to state and national groups or individual experts on this topic, or to receive support on legislative research or drafting, please contact SiX Action at: helpdesk@stateinnovation.org.
Download the full report to read more.
