Cracking down on wage theft, worker abuse

Office of Labor Standards Enforcement to get $500,000 for outreach initiatives

SAN JOSE » Santa Clara County is expanding its efforts to prevent wage theft and worker abuse, thanks to the Board of Supervisors’ unanimous decision Tuesday to pour $500,000 into the Office of Labor Standards Enforcement.

The supervisors also authorized the office to take action against employers that fail to pay penalties in adjudicated sexual assault or retaliation cases involving whistleblowing or labor rights.

The $500,000 in onetime funds will come from the county’s reserves for mitigating federal and state budget impacts and be used for various outreach initiatives to educate workers about their rights and help businesses comply with labor laws.

The board approved the Office of Labor Standards Enforcement’s creation in November 2017, tasking it with enforcing the county’s labor standards with its contractors and developing two pilot programs that would use food facility and business license permits to enforce wage violations.

Wage theft can take various forms, including paying workers less than minimum or agreed-to salaries, requiring employees to record fewer hours on timecards than actually worked, failing to pay overtime, stealing tips or denying breaks.

Workers can file complaints with the federal Department of Labor or state Division of Labor Standards Enforcement. When the county becomes aware of a local business or restaurant with a federal or state judgment against them for labor violations, the Office of Labor Standards Enforcement will work with the business to try to resolve the complaint.

If a business fails to take appropriate action and the violation goes unaddressed, the county could threaten to revoke its food permit or business license.

The office can take similar actions for pay equity, living wage and discrimination issues or human trafficking. Tuesday’s board vote also authorized the office to enforce sexual assault and retaliation judgments by withholding permits.

Because the supervi-

sors also approved spending $500,000 for the office in December, the county now has funded a total of $1 million for its outreach and education projects. All the money has come from one-time sources, so it’ll have to identify a longterm funding source during its budget process later this year, according to program manager Betty Duong.

The additional money approved Tuesday will go toward:

• Outreach and worker rights training in multiple languages

• Creating multilingual and culturally competent training curriculum to educate workers and help businesses comply with labor standards

• Launching a telephone advice line

• Helping workers identify potential labor violations and providing support for filing state or federal claims