BY TERRI GERSTEIN
05/30/19 04:00 PM EDT
Something important for workplace justice quietly happened in Colorado this month, unheralded amidst the roar of our national politics. Governor Jared Polis signed a bill strengthening the penalties for employers who commit wage theft. In Minnesota, even stronger legislation was sent to Governor Tim Walz this week. Now other states should follow their lead.
Why does this matter? Because workers are cheated of pay every day. The incidence of workplace abuse is high. When people do not get paid, it has a huge impact on their lives, as we saw in the federal shutdown. Our laws too often treat employer crimes with a light touch, levying only minimal penalties amounting to little more than a slap on the wrist. The new law in Colorado appropriately treats wage theft with the seriousness it deserves.
Worker advocates started using the term “wage theft” awhile ago. The phrase began to take hold more broadly after activist Kim Bobo wrote a 2011 book by that name. Since then, “wage theft” entered the vernacular and eventually legal terminology, as worker exploitation and economic inequality have become high profile national issues. Of course, “wage theft” sounds more visceral and less wonky than “nonpayment of wages” or “violations of wage law,” but this term is not just better marketing or political framing, it is a more accurate description of what happens. I work 60 hours a week. You do not pay me or pay only a portion of what you owe or a fraction of what is required by law. You stole my work. That is theft.
It took awhile for people to wrap their minds around this, as we tend to think of theft as taking something that someone owns, something that you could actually touch and seek to recover, such as cars, cash, wallets, laptops, or other valuable objects. But work by people is also valuable. The legislation in Colorado perfectly demonstrates this conceptual leap. Seeking to combat both wage theft and human trafficking, the law notes the need “to recognize labor as a thing of value that can be subject to theft” and states that “to protect all workers, it is necessary to close loopholes that allow for the exploitation of human labor for profit.”