by KLEW News Staff
Tuesday, February 26th 2019
BOISE, ID – A bill allowing working Idahoans to recoup up to one year of under-paid wages is trying to become law.
Currently, Idaho only allows workers to get six-months of unpaid or underpaid wages through a process with the State Department of Labor.
It is one of the lowest look-back periods in the nation. Supporters of working Idahoans say it’s about fairness.
The Department of Labor said that most workers notice wage theft in one of two time periods; either the Monday after payday or when they do their taxes.
The bill being debated Monday maintains protections for Idaho employers while injecting fairness into the system.
“What this does is level the playing field and makes sure that someone who’s legitimately had wages stolen from them, can claim those wages up to a full year when they realize that their wages were taken from them, when they go to do their taxes,” said Rep. Mat Erpelding.
The Idaho Department of Labor processed more than 900 wage theft claims last year from workers representing virtually every line of work including construction, service workers, healthcare employees and retail workers.