Democratic Priorities in the 2019 Texas Legislature

Last week I wrote about how the election results changed the makeup of the state legislature and courts here in Texas. Here’s a look at what that change means to you and me in terms of over 400 pieces of legislation filed on opening day of pre-filing with the state legislature based on analysis by the Texas AFL-CIO.

There was more good than bad for workers in that first batch including a strong group of bills raising wages, strengthening pensions and other workplace benefits, expanding health care and improving access to higher education were filed as well as addressing sexual harassment.

First the bad, HB 222 by Rep. Matt Krause, R-Fort Worth, would eliminate the ability of cities to enact earned paid sick leave ordinances. The ordinances, like those recently enacted in Austin and San Antonio, could provide hundreds of thousands of Texans the freedom to stay home when they are ill, are under challenge in court as well. Keep in mind that this issue is about more than benefitting employees since it actually protects other employees and customers from contact that could spread the disease further. Think about the restaurant worker who feels the need to work with the flu so they can pay the next month’s rent or put food on the table for their family.

SB 32 by Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, would establish the Texas Promise Grant Program to pay tuition and fees for Texas students whose annual household incomes are less than $150,000; SB 33 by Zaffirini specifically addresses two-year colleges.

HB 48 by Rep. Mary Gonzalez, D-El Paso, would create a publicly available database of employers who have been found to have committed wage theft. As it stands now business owners can get fined for stealing from their employees and then weeks later start it all over again with new employees who have little chance of finding out that the person hiring them is likely to steal from them. Should Rep. Gonzalez’s bill be passed into law there would be a website that prospective employees could check to see of a business makes a habit of stealing wages before it happens to them. Having such information widely available should also provide a deterrent to employers as such behavior will become widely known in the community and they’ll be shamed for it in addition to finding it harder to find good workers. In addition HB 83 by Rep. Romero raises penalties for repeated failure to pay wages and HB 106 by Rep. Eddie Rodriguez, D-Austin, would increase protections against employer retaliation when an employee files a claim for unpaid wages.

HB 56 by Rep. Armando Martinez, D-Weslaco, would provide for cost-of-living adjustments on pensions for retired teachers; SBs 92, 93 and 94 by Sen. Jose Menendez, D-San Antonio, would add a supplemental "13th payment" for retirees and otherwise shore up the Teacher Retirement System.

HB 133 by Rep. Terry Canales, would make it state law that tips are solely the property of tipped employees and therefore the practice that some restaurant and bar operators of claiming a percentage of tips for themselves would be outlawed.

Minimum wage is a big issue that several bills address, HB 194 by Rep. Ron Reynolds, D-Missouri City, would raise the state minimum wage to $15 an hour; HB 290 by Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, would raise the minimum to $10.10 an hour; SB 113 by Sen. Jose Menendez would set the wage at $10.10 an hour, as would SJR 5, his constitutional amendment proposal. SB 161 by Sen. Rodriguez would allow cities and counties to set local minimum wages.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - November 16, 2018

Wage Theft a Bigger Problem Than Armed Robbery

In the United States when we think of crimes most of us will immediately think of the perpetrator as someone of disreputable appearance, perhaps a gang member, someone from the wrong side of the tracks. We’ll picture a drug user or a biker, often someone of different ethnicity. We rarely think that someone like us, someone who owns or manages a business, someone who lives in our neighborhood or volunteers at our church.

Yet much of what we imagine is a fairy tale just like Little Red Riding Hood. On the whole Americans will suffer more than twice as much in financial losses from their employers than from armed robbers. According the crime statistics collected by the F.B.I. in 2012 American individuals and businesses combined suffered $414 million in losses. In that same year the US Department of Labor, various state departments of labor and their attorneys general as well as private attorneys reported recovering $933 million in back wages and other stolen compensation according to the Economic Policy Institute.

The data collected by the Economic Policy Institute doesn’t include dollar amounts from Alabama, Arizona, Delaware, Indiana, Louisiana, and Vermont from which such information was unavailable. While armed robberies are almost always reported wage theft often is not; either because the employee doesn’t know to whom to report the crime or they fear that they’ll lose the job that provides for their families, so the total is likely much higher.

Here are just a two examples starting with an upscale Manhattan restaurant, reached a settlement in March 2012 with New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office over its illegal theft of wages from 25 employees. The restaurant paid employees less than the minimum wage, failed to compensate them for overtime work, and cheated them out of tips.

Two busboys were paid no wages at all for their work and had to subsist solely on their share of pooled tips. Then, once a manager began to oversee tip distribution, their meager earnings shrank further. After checking with waitresses, they realized the manager was illegally taking a share for himself. At this point, Jacal and Suarez got in touch with an advocacy group and subsequently the attorney general’s office.

After he was sued, restaurant owner retaliated against the two known whistleblowers — first cutting their hours and then firing them. The case settlement required the restaurant to pay restitution of $25,000 to each of the two busboys and $150,000 to the other 23 workers.

In 2012, the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) dealt with repeated wage theft offenses by contractor Affordable Safe and Professional Flagging, LLC. The company routinely paid less than the prevailing wage and failed to pay overtime to employees who conducted traffic control on public construction projects. The company was forced to pay a total of $107,010.24 in back wages and disqualified from holding further state contracts for 5 years. The firm was allowed to finish its work on the current contract, which led to yet more instances of stolen wages as employees’ paychecks bounced on several occasions and most received no pay for an entire month.  In 2013, the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries obtained another settlement of $113,000 in back wages for 36 employees.

The Oregon example is evidence that state and federal law don’t provide sufficient penalties to dissuade repeat wage theft offenses. Unlike armed robbery stealing from your employees doesn’t incur jail time, perhaps it should.

If you or someone you know has suffered wage theft contact the Texas Workforce Commission at 800-832-9243 to file a claim.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - December 1, 2017