HICKENLOOPER MAY SIGN BILL ON WAGE THEFT

Thanks to a bill headed to the governor’s desk, Coloradans soon can find out if an employer cheated workers on wages.

For decades, any finding by labor officials that an employer engaged in wage theft has been considered a trade secret that’s offlimits to the public.

But the Senate on Tuesday approved the bill, which would include those findings under Colorado’s Open Records Act. The House previously passed the legislation.

It would allow citizens to know if they are patronizing or considering employment with an offender. It also would level the playing field for employers who abide by wage, overtime and other pay laws or contracts.

The bill is sponsored by Democratic Rep. Jessie Danielson and Republican Sen. John Cooke.

Proposed budget could plunge capital into recession. The booming

Washington, D.C., region would take a big hit from President Donald Trump’s proposed budget. While it’s unlikely to be enacted, the budget released by the White House this month would eliminate tens of thousands of federal jobs in the District of Columbia and its suburbs. That would add up to billions of dollars in lost wages and millions of square feet in vacant office space.

Uber diversity: low on women, like other tech companies. Uber’s first

report on employee diversity shows low numbers for women, especially in technology positions. In that regard, the company is similar to other Silicon Valley giants such as Google, Facebook and Apple. But the report comes amid claims of sexual harassment and other problems for the ride-hailing pioneer.

Missouri House votes to repeal construction wage law. The Missouri

House took a key first step Tuesday toward repealing the state’s “prevailing wage” requirement for public construction projects, the latest in a series of moves by Republicancontrolled states to limit union powers.

The legislation, which won initial House approval by a 93-60 vote, would undo a law that requires governmental entities to pay more than the state’s standard minimum wage for construction and maintenance work on such things as roads, bridges and buildings.

Missouri is one of 29 states with such laws.

State Rep. Kevin Engler called the legislation an “anti-economic development bill” that allows nonunion workers from elsewhere to undercut Missouri laborers.

Wells Fargo to pay $110M to settle suit.

Wells Fargo says it will pay $110 million to settle a class-action lawsuit over the up to 2 million accounts its employees may have opened for customers without getting their permission.

It’s the first private settlement that Wells has reached since the company paid $185 million to federal and California authorities late last year.

The settlement will include customers who had accounts opened without their permission, or were signed up for a product they did not agree to, going back to Jan. 1, 2009.

Wells Fargo says it believes this settlement will resolve 11 other pending class-action lawsuits.