Judge lets wage suit advance

Four claim pay theft, say Workforce Solutions failed to enforce laws

SANTA FE — District Court Judge David K. Thomson on Friday rejected a motion by the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions to dismiss a lawsuit that claimed the department was not enforcing state wage theft laws.

The lawsuit was filed in January by four people who say they were victims of wage theft and a coalition of workers’ rights groups. They allege that the department doesn’t hold guilty employers liable for statutory damages during the administrative enforcement phase of a case; improperly imposes a $10,000 cap on investigating wage theft claims; doesn’t investigate or take action against a business when a claim is more than a year old; and refuses claims when workers get snagged by administrative red tape.

“This ruling reaffirms that every hard-working New Mexican — not just those with the money to hire lawyers — deserves to be paid for their work,” Elizabeth Wagoner of the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs, said in a news release. “Our state government cannot turn a blind eye when employers break laws protecting working people.”

In a statement to the Journal, Workforce Solutions Deputy Cabinet Secretary Joy Forehand called the lawsuit “frivolous” and “politically motivated.”

“The Department of Workforce Solutions is not shocked by the ruling on the motion to dismiss and considers it as procedural,” she said. “The Department will continue to fight the unnecessary and frivolous lawsuit that has been brought by a politically motivated group and is committed to ensuring that all New Mexicans are protected equally under state wage and hour laws.”