American Constitution Society – Sept. 4, 2022
Terri Gerstein – Director of the State and Local Enforcement Project, Harvard Labor and Worklife Program. Senior Fellow, Economic Policy Institute.
This is the sixth piece in an eight-month long blog series aimed at highlighting state attorneys general and their work. You can find additional resources, news, and information about the State Attorney General Project here.
State Attorneys General (AGs) are playing an increasingly visible and important role in relation to workers’ rights. Although historically AGs have not been deeply involved in labor matters, since 2015, AG action in this area has mushroomed: ten states have dedicated labor units of various kinds, several jurisdictions have passed legislation granting state AGs expanded jurisdiction allowing them to address labor violations, and many AGs have brought cases to enforce workers’ basic rights.
As the midterms approach, with AG elections occurring in 30 states plus the District of Columbia, it is important to understand not only what AGs do in general, but also what they are doing and can do to protect our country’s workers.
Role of AGs
AGs are the top legal officers in their states. Offices vary considerably in terms of resources and jurisdiction, but some common elements are generally present. They represent state agencies in court and in appeals. AGs play a public advocacy role, enforcing the law in various ways to protect the people of their states, most commonly in areas like consumer and civil rights. Many AG offices also have criminal jurisdiction: a few are the sole criminal prosecutors in their states, like Delaware and Rhode Island, while most have jurisdiction in specific circumstances, such as in particular types of cases or upon request by a district attorney. AGs also issue opinion letters that provide authoritative guidance. AGs have also increasingly become involved in federal matters, suing the federal government (or weighing in to support it) and submitting comments regarding proposed rules. AGs also often propose or support legislation in their states, working together with state legislators. Finally, AGs are highly visible leaders, and they exercise soft power in various ways: authoring op-eds, issuing reports, and more.
AG Involvement in Workers’ Rights Matters
State AGs have pursued employers for wage theft, misclassifying workers as independent contractors instead of as employees, endangering workers, and otherwise violating core workplace protections. AGs have filed civil lawsuits, brought criminal prosecutions, and achieved settlements that collectively recovered tens of millions of dollars for working people. They’ve freed many thousands of workers from non-compete and no-poach agreements, stopped companies from stealing workers’ tips, and achieved other forms of injunctive relief. And they’ve sued to stop federal rollbacks of workers’ rights. Here are some highlights of AG action in the year since Labor Day 2021 (this list is not exhaustive):
Fighting misclassification of workers as independent contractors instead of as employees: The Illinois AG on Friday sued a construction company for violations of the state’s minimum wage, prevailing wage, and employee classification laws. The DC AG filed several misclassification lawsuits, including a drywall construction contractor (ultimately settled for over $1 million), an electrical contractor, a company (Arise Virtual Solutions) that provides customer service to top corporations like Disney and Airbnb; and Jan-Pro, a national janitorial contractor.
Criminal prosecution: The Virginia AGs office obtained a guilty plea to felony embezzlement charges of a drywall contractor who misclassified workers constructing the state’s General Assembly building as independent contractors instead of as employees. The Maryland AG obtained a guilty plea from a labor broker in the office’s first criminal labor case; a contractor building a state university forced workers to kick back money to him each week. Washington’s AG obtained guilty felony theft pleas from business owners who didn’t pay wage to 24 employees of their house cleaning business.
Rhode Island’s AG obtained a guilty plea in a case involving a janitorial contractor who failed to pay workers and evaded workers’ compensation laws in order to win a public contract on community college campuses. Rhode Island’s AG has been active in bringing criminal prosecutions related to wage theft; for example, an employer was charged with $93K of wage theft in a prevailing wages case involving construction on a school. The Rhode Island AG also led the effort to pass a bill strengthening penalties for wage theft testifying in a legislative hearing about the proposal.