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Biden’s Nominee for Secretary of Labor Wants ‘Wage Theft’ Cops

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

SEAN HIGGINS | 4.20.2023 8:00 AM

California’s experience combatting wage theft has been a headache for employers without much in the way of restitution for workers.

Julie Su wants to be the nation’s top cop on wage theft, and she means that quite literally.

Su, President Joe Biden’s nominee to be the Secretary of Labor, believes that allegations of not paying workers what they are due are so serious that the accused—business owners—should be put in handcuffs.

As the head of the California Labor Department under Gov. Gavin Newsom, Su created the state agency’s first-ever criminal investigations unit. Su vowed that the unit would go after those “who underpay, underbid and under-report in violation of the law.” And the wage theft police were born.

“When we first implemented the unit, newspaper headlines warned of armed Labor Commissioner deputies coming to get employers in California and arrest them for crimes. And, well, we are!” Su boasted in a 2015 lecture. “We have filed over a dozen felony wage-theft cases with district attorneys across the state and we have had employers arrested and thrown in jail for the wage theft they committed.”

 

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CONTRACTOR SENTENCED FOR CRIMINAL WAGE THEFT, FALSE REPORTING OF WORKERS’ COMP PAYMENTS (WA)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

By Office of the Attorney General (Washington State)
July 27th, 2018

Alejandro Sandoval and his company must pay back $25,000 in workers’ wages

SEATTLE – A Maple Valley contractor and his company must pay back more than $25,000 in unpaid wages in addition to unreported workers’ compensation insurance after a joint investigation by the Attorney General’s Office and the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries (L&I).

Alejandro Sandoval and his company, Sandoval Construction, were sentenced today in King County Superior Court after pleading guilty to false reporting and first-degree theft. As part of the plea deal, Sandoval Construction is ordered to reimburse the workers for their unpaid wages and Sandoval will be responsible for unpaid workers’ compensation insurance payments to the state.

Under separate civil proceedings, he owes L&I at least $197,000 in unpaid premiums, interest and penalties.

“Wage theft is a crime, and as long as I’m Attorney General, those that steal from their workers will be prosecuted,” Attorney General Bob Ferguson said. “Thanks to the coordinated efforts of my office and L&I, these workers will be paid for their work.”

“People work hard and deserve to be paid fully and on time,” said L&I Director Joel Sacks. “Teaming up with the Attorney General gives us the extra hammer of criminal prosecution to collect wages for workers and reduce workers’ comp costs for employers.”

L&I enforces workplace rights and administers the state workers’ compensation insurance system that helps injured workers heal and return to work. When employers cheat and fail to pay their fair share, those who follow the rules pay higher premiums.

The Attorney General’s Office began its criminal investigation in 2016 after L&I received complaints from a dozen workers for Sandoval and his company, alleging Sandoval Construction had not paid them $25,620 in wages that they were owed.

In addition, an L&I audit revealed that Sandoval had underreported his workers’ compensation payments to the state agency, despite deducting them from employee paychecks. The audit, which covered a sampling of four different quarters, found he owed more than twice what he reported to L&I in that timeframe.

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