Senator DiDomenico Joins Attorney General & Workers In Support of Wage Theft Legislation

BOSTON- Senator Sal DiDomenico recently joined the Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, Massachusetts AFL-CIO President Steve Tolman, representatives from Community Labor United, Greater Boston Labor Council, and the Massachusetts Building Trades Council, as well as workers from throughout the Commonwealth at a press conference in support of S.999/H.1033, An Act to prevent wage theft and promote employer accountability. DiDomenico is the Senate sponsor of this bill that seeks to prevent wage law violations by allowing the issuance of stop-work orders until wage violations are corrected and giving the Attorney General's Office the power to bring wage theft cases to court for civil damages.

Wage theft- the illegal practice of not paying employees for all of their work through means such as violating minimum wage laws, not paying overtime, or forcing workers to work off the clock- has become a pervasive problem throughout the Massachusetts economy and across the nation. Many workers who are by all definitions employees are often misclassified as “independent contractors,” thereby cheating them out of minimum or prevailing wages, and leaving them on the hook for medical costs if they are injured on the job.  Furthermore, employers may undermine legitimate businesses by avoiding taxes and not paying into critical safety nets for workers, putting an unfair burden on the Commonwealth when workers have a legitimate right to utilize these programs. As a result of wage theft, approximately $700 million is stolen from workers each year in Massachusetts.

Last year, DiDomenico’s bill passed the Senate on a near-unanimous vote. At the press conference, Senator DiDomenico told those in attendance that he would continue working to move this bill forward and called on them to continue fighting to secure final passage of the bill this legislative session. "Let's get this done this year, move forward and treat people fairly in this state and across the country," DiDomenico said.

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