Accurate Payrolls More Important – Avoid Wage Theft

More and more jurisdictions, both state and local, are cracking down on wage theft by making it a criminal offense (particularly for repeat offenders) instead of a civil offense.

In addition, the US DOL is ramping up to assist in the “war” against wage theft, including development of criteria that would warrant referral to the DOJ. California, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Virginia all have laws authorizing imprisonment for failure to pay wages or falsification of wage statements.

Criminal charges have been brought in a variety of industries, including dairy farms, restaurants, garment manufacturers and construction companies. (One California construction company was hit with 31 criminal counts!