by Marco Vinicio González
Wage theft is considered an epidemic in California, with the lowest-paid workers losing more than one billion dollars a year in Los Angeles alone. In view of this, the state Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimony from workers and businessmen and passed the bill SB 588, introduced by senate president Kevin de León, to confront dishonest businesses that steal wages from their employees and undermine owners of companies who do respect the law. The measure still has a long path before becoming law, but it has gained impulse with the support of this first legislative forum. Marco Vinicio González has the story.
State Senator Kevin de León with janitors. Photo: Courtesy of Office of De León.
As a janitor, Gorsina Hernández worked cleaning buildings 11 hours a day 7 days a week and made less than minimum wage. At the same time, she had to pay someone to care for her children, in addition to general costs of daily living. This week, Hernández testified before the Judiciary Committee of the State Senate of California.
“I have 5 children and I am a single mother. I feel unable to give my children what they deserve. As a janitor, I hope what we are doing now with SB 588 can become reality, so that those companies, stop stealing wages from workers,” said Hernández.
The committee approved the bill against wage theft, introduced by Senate president pro tempore Kevin de León.
“What is happening throughout the state of California is that the salaries of our Latino, immigrant people are being stolen by employers who are not paying them overtime, who are paying them less than minimum wage, who are not paying them for all the hours they work. And that is why we want justice,” said León.
Lilia García Brower, executive director of the Maintenance Cooperation Trust Fund, spoke about the issue on Radio Bilingüe’s national talkshow Línea Abierta.
“Based on a study done at UCLA, it was identified that in only one county (Los Angeles), in the biggest county in the state, we are talking about 1.4 billion dollars being stolen from people every year,” said Garcia Brower.
Garcia Brower says existing labor laws don’t have enough teeth to punish untrustworthy employers, which is why a law is needed like the one Senator De León is proposing.
“Which is going to say that any boss who doesn’t pay backwages will have to post a bond of 150,000 dollars. The Labor Commissioner will have discretion over the employer’s property. And the third element is that in industries where there is a lot of subcontracting, like in cleaning, the owners of the buildings will be responsible for the treatment of workers, if they hire an irresponsible company,” said Garcia Brower.
The bill still has to go through several other committees of the state senate and assembly. Then it will have to be voted on by both houses before reaching the desk of Governor Jerry Brown. De León is confident it will pass.
“We are going to empower our people with the bill, with this law, because it doesn’t matter if you are legalized. Undocumented or not, it is not fair to be paid less, because these are human beings who deserve dignity and respect,” said the state senator.
