The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors has voted to create an office of labor standards enforcement that they hope will combat wage theft.
The office will initially be used to educate workers, they said, but will in time also enforce labor laws.
The resolution was introduced by supervisors David Pine and Ray Mueller, who will work in a subcommittee to iron out more details on how the office will be used going forward.
Wage theft is essentially fraud. It happens when employers pay less than minimum wage, or do not pay overtime, or do not allow breaks.
“Having an in-house Office of Labor Standards Enforcement will allow the County to strengthen worker protections, especially for our most vulnerable and at-risk workers,” Pine said.
Pine added that the county’s economy often relies on industries with lower-wage jobs such as food service, janitorial maintenance and other service industries, which he and other people during public comment said often face wage theft and lack any paper trails to prove it.
During the board meeting, Enrique Lopezlira, director of the Low-Wage Work program at the UC Berkeley Labor Center, commented that in 2015, half a million California workers experienced minimum wage violations.
“Specific attention would be paid to low-income workers, workers from vulnerable populations such as women, people of color, immigrants, people who identify as LGBTQIA+, refugees and individuals with disabilities,” a press release by the county stated after the vote.
The new office is expected to begin work on July 1, 2024.
San Mateo supes vote to create labor standards enforcement office to address wage theft
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The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors has voted to create an office of labor standards enforcement that they hope will combat wage theft.
The office will initially be used to educate workers, they said, but will in time also enforce labor laws.
The resolution was introduced by supervisors David Pine and Ray Mueller, who will work in a subcommittee to iron out more details on how the office will be used going forward.
Wage theft is essentially fraud. It happens when employers pay less than minimum wage, or do not pay overtime, or do not allow breaks.
“Having an in-house Office of Labor Standards Enforcement will allow the County to strengthen worker protections, especially for our most vulnerable and at-risk workers,” Pine said.
Pine added that the county’s economy often relies on industries with lower-wage jobs such as food service, janitorial maintenance and other service industries, which he and other people during public comment said often face wage theft and lack any paper trails to prove it.
During the board meeting, Enrique Lopezlira, director of the Low-Wage Work program at the UC Berkeley Labor Center, commented that in 2015, half a million California workers experienced minimum wage violations.
“Specific attention would be paid to low-income workers, workers from vulnerable populations such as women, people of color, immigrants, people who identify as LGBTQIA+, refugees and individuals with disabilities,” a press release by the county stated after the vote.
The new office is expected to begin work on July 1, 2024.