POSTED: 05:22 PM MST Mar 08, 2016
UPDATED: 07:24 PM MST Mar 08, 2016
EL PASO, Texas –
The El Paso City hall is cracking down on wage theft, adding changes to an existing ordinance that will prohibit companies in some industries from conducting business within city limits if they’ve been convicted of stealing wages from employees.
The council on Tuesday voted 5 to 1 to approve the tougher changes, with Rep. Michiel Noe as the only no vote. Representatives Cortney Niland and Larry Romero were absent. Romero resigned last month but is still a holdover until his seat is filled.
Businesses with a wage theft adjudication would not qualify for certain city permits, licenses or registration. The industries affected are food handling establishments, laundries, dealers of second hand goods, vendors, contractors and flea market operators.
The current city ordinance bars companies with wage theft adjudications from winning city contracts.
More than two dozen people went to the city council meeting expressing support for the ordinance expansion. “El Paso does not need employers who are thieves,” UTEP Professor Kathy Staudt told the council.