This week, the Senate Labor & Business Relations Committee approved Senate File 39, which is designed to strengthen Iowa’s wage theft laws.
All Iowans deserve to get paid for the work they do. Strengthening Iowa’s middle class depends on it. Sadly, $600 million in wages are stolen from Iowa workers each year.
Wage theft can occur in many forms. For example, it could be an employer failing to pay an employee for the hours of work performed or the employer not giving tips to servers.
Iowa’s wage theft laws are so weak that they are impossible to enforce. The result? Iowa workers get ripped off by unscrupulous employers, and the majority of businesses that play by the rules are put at a disadvantage.
Most Iowans aren’t at risk of being cheated by their employer, but low-wage workers often are, and they’re the ones with the most to lose.
Just hiring more investigators won’t fix the wage theft problem. We need laws that make it clear you must pay your workers, and make it easier and safer for workers to stand up for their rights. Senate File 39 would make Iowa’s law more straightforward with these three changes:
- Employers would be required to keep a written record of the terms of employment.
- The defense that an employer “unintentionally” failed to pay employees would no longer be acceptable.
- Employees filing wage theft claims and those who offer testimony on their behalf would be protected from retaliation under threat of penalty.
SF 39 will next be debated by the full Senate.