Wage Theft Bill

An Act to Prevent Wage Theft, Promote Employer Accountability, and Enhance Public Enforcement (H. 1610, S. 1066 Rep. Donahue, Sen. DiDomenico)

The legislation will:

»  Increase Responsibility: Holds “lead contractors” accountable for the wage theft violations of their subcontractors.

»  Protects Wage Rights: Protects workers from wage theft violations such as failure to make wage payments; failure to abide by minimum wage, prevailing wage and overtime laws; and independent contractor misclassification.

»  Protect Workers against retaliation for reporting wage violations.

»  Improve Government Enforcement: Streamlines the enforcement power of the Attorney General’soffice by allowing it to bring wage theft cases directly to court and seek damages on behalf of workers.

»  Allow a Stop Work Order: In cases where
there has been a determination of a wage theft violation, the AG will have the power to issue a “Stop Work Order,” which temporarily halts work until the violation is corrected.

Fact Sheet (pdf)

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