A bill to combat what’s called “wage theft” by employers — one of Democrats’ top priorities — cleared its first committee in the Minnesota House late Wednesday on a near-unanimous voice vote. Cecilia Guzman told lawmakers she was owed two thousand dollars by a cleaning company in 2014 and the court ordered them to pay, “and the person still hasn’t paid me to this date.”
Robin Pikala, a home care worker from Fridley, said 600 employees at the company she worked for went without pay for 45 days, and then her employer filed for bankruptcy. Pikala says, “If we don’t show up for work — even unpaid — that means someone can’t get out of bed, someone can’t eat and someone can’t live their everyday lives. But while we were caring for others, workers were scrambling to figure out how to pay bills and stay in our homes.”
Lauren Schothorst with the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce said their members do not condone wage theft, but under the proposed legislation, even an innocent mistake would be criminal. “This is especially concerning for some of our smaller employers who may not have more sophisticated payroll software systems — if at all,” Schothorst says. “An inadvertent mistake or error should not subject them to the serious penalties included in this bill.”