30/08/2020
Commentary: Lawmakers must act to protect workers from wage theft
Next Up: Community news: Ordination set, museum gift, trail...
Recommended
Community news: Ordination
set, museum gift, trail...
Albany County
reports 1 new COVID
death
Megan Henry clears
hurdles to prolong
Albany golf...
OPINION
Commentary: Lawmakers must act to protect
workers from wage theft
Elizabeth Stork and Estee Ward
Updated: Aug. 24, 2020 6:04 p.m.
COVID-19 has not only endangered lives and livelihoods around the world, it is
exacerbating a crisis in labor law enforcement, making income inequality and
racial inequality worse. New York state legislators could address this crisis and
generate much-needed revenue for the state by passing the Empowering People
in Rights Enforcement Worker Protection Act.
Even before the pandemic, New York faced a crisis in enforcement of its labor
laws, with more than $3 billion in wages and benefits stolen from New Yorkers
each year. Wage theft can occur in many forms, including sub-minimum wages,
shaving workers' time, improper pay deductions and failing to pay overtime
wages. Over the past decade, state Department of Labor investigators' average
case load has doubled, and the agency now only investigates violations for half of
the time period covered by the labor law.
https://www.timesunion.com/opinion/article/Commentary-Lawmakers-must-act-to-protect-workers-15511424.php
1/9