Delaware’s Department of Labor and Department of Justice are backing a bill that would criminalize wage theft by employers.
Deputy Secretary of Labor Rachel Turney says under current Delaware law, employees paid under the table or misclassified as independent contractors have no clear way to seek justice if their employer doesn’t pay them appropriately for their work.
"The goal of the bill is to provide protection to workers who are paid under the table or misclassified as independent contractors, and therefore are not covered by the workers protection laws in place," she said.
Her office estimates it receives about 1,000 of these complaints each year, and Turney says the most they can do is refer them to agencies like the IRS, which rarely take up individual worker complaints.
Sam Noel, a spokesman for Carpenters’ Union Local 255, supports the bill, saying it would help address the increasing misclassification of workers in the construction industry.
“This really helps the industry have contractors all on the same playing field," he said.
This bill would allow employees to bring complaints to the Department of Labor, which would hold a hearing with the employer accused of wrongdoing. Employers found not to have paid an employee correctly would be required to provide restitution to the employee and pay a fine. Those fines would help pay for two enforcement officers - one at the Department of Labor, and another at the Department of Justice.
But State Sen. Colin Bonini is concerned about that funding structure.
"I’m always loathe to create enforcement mechanisms that are self-funding based on the fines they can levy on the people they’re overseeing," he said.
Despite those concerns, the bill cleared the Senate’s labor committee on Wednesday.
