We call on the LA City Council to pass a Wage Theft Ordinance in the city of Los Angeles to protect workers of this city from wage theft by their employers. We demand that the Council expand protections for workers, strengthen mechanisms for recovery of owed wages, and increase penalties for unethical employers who steal from and retaliate against their employees.
Why is this important?
Simply put, Los Angeles is the “Wage Theft Capitol of the United States,” with approximately $26.2 million stolen from workers on a weekly basis ($1.4 billion annually) through minimum wage and overtime violations, off –the-clock work, meal and rest break violations, and illegal paycheck deductions. While wage theft primarily impacts low-wage workers, its negative effects touch every member of the city, whether it is through lost tax revenue, unfair competition for law-abiding businesses, decreased monetary infusion into the local economy, or increased public expenditures on health care. It is time to end LA’s reign as the Wage Theft Capitol, and it is time for City Council to take action to help workers collect the wages that are legally owed to them.
