The San Diego City Council on Tuesday moved to strengthen the city\u2019s power to prosecute employers who commit wage theft.<\/p>\n
The City Council on an 8-0 vote approved amendments to its Earned Sick Leave and Minimum Wage Ordinance to crack down on unpaid wages, recover overtime pay and align local sick leave rules with California state standards.<\/p>\n
San Diego City Councilmembers Marni von Wilpert and Sean Elo-Rivera proposed the amendments to the law, which currently does not authorize such civil actions.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur city\u2019s minimum wage is only as strong as our ability to enforce it,\u201d von Wilpert told the council. She pointed to the upcoming raise in the city\u2019s minimum wage, to $18.35 an hour starting in January, saying \u201cthat raise only matters if the money makes it to a worker\u2019s paycheck.\u201d<\/p>\n
A city staff report gives several examples of wage theft. Along with not paying minimum wage, these include not paying overtime, not allowing breaks, asking people to work \u201coff the clock,\u201d not granting or allowing the use of earned sick leave, making unlawful paycheck deductions, wrongly classifying employees as independent contractors, not reimbursing employees for business expenses and stealing tips.<\/p>\n
Von Wilpert added that the changes to the ordinance, which was last substantially updated in 2016, strengthen the ability to enforce existing laws but does not create new obligations for employers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is also about protecting law-abiding businesses, who are often undercut by businesses who are cutting corners by not paying their workers,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Elo-Rivera said the changes respond to a double standard in which stealing from a cash register is deemed \u201ca crime\u201d but taking $100 out of a worker\u2019s paycheck is \u201cjust an ordinary way of doing business.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cStealing is wrong. It shouldn\u2019t matter whether you\u2019re wearing a ski mask or a business suit,\u201d Elo-Rivera said.<\/p>\n
By authorizing the city to bring civil suits on behalf of employees, this change protects workers who are \u201calready struggling to get by.\u201d Without such protection, \u201ctoo much of the burden to get that money back falls on them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The law passed after brief public comment. Councilmember Vivian Moreno was absent.<\/p>\n
San Diego\u2019s scrutiny of its wage theft law fits in with a broader, sustained focus by cities across the nation to enforce wage theft laws. New York City recently helped its workers recover stolen wages. In September, its Department of Consumer and Worker Protection announced a $131.5 million enforcement action against DoorDash for violations of delivery worker laws, with more than $115 million earmarked for the city\u2019s more than 260,000 delivery workers.<\/p>\n
And this month City Attorney Heather Ferbert, along with California Attorney General Rob Bonta and the city attorneys of Los Angeles and San Francisco, announced a $272.5 million settlement with ride-hailing company Lyft<\/a>, which is pending court approval. The settlement responds to allegations that Lyft for years committed wage theft by misclassifying its drivers as independent contractors instead of employees. California\u2019s Lyft drivers will receive $237 million of the settlement, \u201cwith millions of dollars expected to go to drivers in San Diego,\u201d according to a news release.<\/p>\n The city\u2019s amendments update the law around the minimum wage in three main ways:<\/p>\n The updated section on wage theft empowers the city to sue noncompliant employers on behalf of employees suffering from wage violations, collect the owed wages, sick leave damages or other damages, and distribute those to the victims \u2014 a change that greatly expands the city\u2019s enforcement ability.<\/p>\n The new language also specifies that minimum wage must be paid for all hours worked, including overtime. This doesn\u2019t specify that overtime work must be paid at a premium, but that all hours worked must be paid at least the city\u2019s minimum wage, which is $17.75 an hour for workers in most sectors.<\/p>\n The changes also \u201cclarify that employees are entitled to be paid for overtime hours and may seek to recover unpaid overtime wages,\u201d the staff report says.<\/p>\n The cost to enforce the law can be offset by grant revenue, enforcement penalties, and user fees set up to fund Office of Labor Standards and Enforcement programs, the City Attorney\u2019s Office said in the staff report.<\/p>\n