"Wage Theft" Hearing: Supervisors Target Businesses that Stiff Workers on Back Pay

​San Francisco supervisors plan to hold a hearing tomorrow on how the city can crack down on "wage theft" -- the practice of employers stiffing workers for overtime, sick pay, or even minimum wage.

Supervisors David Campos and Eric Mar are sponsoring the hearing, which will take place at 10 a.m. in Room 263 at City Hall before the Government Audit and Oversight Committee. A rally will be held beforehand outside City Hall, with Board of Supervisors President David Chiu and Supervisor John Avalos attending, along with workers' rights activists.

San Francisco has a watchdog agency that's supposed to be policing wage abuses -- the Office of Labor Standards Enforcement. This agency has recovered almost $4.2 million in back wages for 2,600 people since it was created in 2004.

However, according to documents filed for tomorrow's hearing, the office has been slow to resolve workers' claims for back wages, and loathe to take on employers who resist an investigation. Only five administrative hearings -- the equivalent of a trial for uncooperative businesses -- have been held in the last seven years, and the average time between the filing of a complaint and such a hearing was 788 days.

Advocates for workers say wage theft is a problem that primarily affects low-wage and immigrant employees. Last year, the Chinese Progressive Association released a report asserting that one in two restaurant employees in San Francisco's Chinatown were victims of wage theft.

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