ST. PAUL, MN – Today, Lt. Governor Tina Smith was joined by Minnesota workers and legislators at a State Capitol rally to urge the Legislature to hold employers that commit wage theft accountable for their failure to pay for work already performed. 

 

“Wage theft is stealing. It’s not how we do business in Minnesota. Yet, it’s all too common – costing Minnesota workers nearly $12 million a year,” said Lt. Governor Tina Smith. “I urge the Minnesota Legislature to pass legislation cracking down on wage theft this session. Minnesotans work hard. They deserve to get paid for it.”

 

Wage theft occurs when employers do not pay workers what is owed to them for work performed. The Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) estimates that over 39,000 workers experience wage theft in Minnesota each year, averaging $11.9 million dollars of wages that are owed, but not paid to Minnesota workers. There is currently no state law that prohibits or penalizes employers that do not pay their employees for work performed. 

 

“It’s unconscionable that hard working Minnesotans are victims of wage theft,” said Rep. Tim Mahoney (DFL-Saint Paul). “Minnesotans deserve respect and fair treatment from their employers; if that trust is violated, there must be a course of action to punish them. This legislation will not only protect workers and give them the tools to know if they’re victims of wage theft, it will empower our state government to fully investigate these crimes.”

Currently, DLI receives over 20,000 worker complaints a year related to wage and hour laws. At current staffing levels, DLI is able to investigate 1,500 wage theft and other violations every year. In the past five years, the Department has recovered over $4.8 million in back wages for Minnesota workers.

 

“We take wage theft very seriously,” said Labor and Industry Commissioner Ken Peterson. “It not only harms employees, but is unfair to competitors who pay fair wages. When an employee isn’t paid the wages he or she earned there is unnecessary hurt for them, their family and their community.”

 

Wage theft is most common in the following industries: cleaning/janitorial services, building and construction trades, and restaurants.

 

"I got behind in rent, bills, everything. I had to live out of my car and a friend's house for several weeks because of the wage theft and the problems it created for me,” said Gloria Rojo, a former ROC subcontractor, who had her wages stolen. “This law would create the necessary consequences for companies like ROC and their subcontractors so that we can have the dignified work we deserve."

 

Governor Mark Dayton and Lt. Governor Tina Smith’s Opportunity Agenda for a Better Minnesota prioritizes the following provisions to be included in the Wage Theft Prevention Act:

 

• Providing Funding to Enforce Wage Theft Protections – Investing $1 million in the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) to investigate and crack down on wage theft.

 

• Defining the Law, Making Clear Wage Theft is Wrong and Illegal – Establishing a definition of wage theft and making clear it is illegal.

 

• Power of Subpoena – Giving the DLI investigators the power to subpoena documents. This power would help ensure the agency is able to compel production of records when employers refuse to submit them.

 

• Empowering Workers with Information – Requiring notice of information to be provided to employees at the start of employment, including employee rate of pay, the legal name of the employer, and the employer’s address and phone number.

 

• Creating Stiffer Penalties to Prevent and Crack Down on Wage Theft – Increasing penalties for employers that fail to keep employment records, and for employers that willfully or repeatedly violate wage and hour laws. The Governor and Lt. Governor’s proposal would create a criminal penalty (gross misdemeanor) for willful and repeated violations of wage theft laws.

 

• Issuing Citations for Wage Theft Violations – Increasing the fines for willful and repeated violations of wage theft laws from $1,000 to $10,000 per violation.

 

• Ensuring More Regular, Reliable Paychecks for Minnesota Workers – Requiring that employers pay employees every 16 days, rather than every 31. Under current law, an employee could work 41 days without knowing whether they were going to be paid or not. Under the Governor and Lt. Governor’s proposal, the maximum number of days would be 31 at the start of employment and 16 days thereafter.