Short Title: An Act amending the act of
July 14, 1961 (P.L.637, No.329), known as the Wage Payment and Collection Law,
further providing for definitions; providing for duty of department to report;
further providing for civil remedies and penalties, for liquidated damages and
for criminal penalties; providing for employer liability; and establishing the
Wage Enforcement Fund.
Prime Sponsor: Senator
TARTAGLIONE
Last Action: Referred to LABOR
AND INDUSTRY, Jan. 28, 2015 [Senate]
MEMORANDUM
Posted: December 1, 2014 03:30 PM
From: Senator
Christine Tartaglione
To: All Senate
members
Subject: Co-Sponsorship of Legislation: Strengthening the
Wage Payment and Collection Law
In the near future, I intend to reintroduce legislation,
formerly S.B. 1353 of 2013-2014, that would amend Pennsylvania’s Wage Payment
and Collection Law to improve employer adherence to the law with regard to
payment of employee wages. Further, my
bill would establish a self-funding means of increasing enforcement of and
reporting on this law by the Department of Labor and Industry.
Presently, under the Wage Payment and Collection Law,
employees who are underpaid have little recourse for collecting the wages they
are owed by their employers. Reporting
violators without risking retaliation, pursuing back-owed wages and receiving
payment for damages are fruitless endeavors for most employees in
Pennsylvania. Simultaneously, employers
have little incentive to pay the correct amount of wages to their workers
because the penalties for violating this law are outdated and, as such, fail to
deter initial or repeat offenses.
Finally, the Department of Labor and Industry does not proactively
investigate employers, especially within high-violation industries, nor does it
collect and report data on violations of the Wage Payment and Collection Law.
My legislation would update the Wage Payment and
Collection Law and bring it into alignment with wage payment laws in other
states, as well as S.B. 1300 (Tartaglione), by raising penalties for violators
and repeat offenders of this law.
Retaliation against employees reporting violations by their employers
would be punishable through substantial fines and employees would have the
ability to collect damages for back-wages owed them. To ensure sufficient funding for the
increased enforcement and reporting duties that would become mandatory of the
Department under this bill, I plan to establish a Wage Enforcement Fund, which
would be subsidized through the penalties collected under this act and the
Minimum Wage Act.
At this time, it is critical that we protect our
workers. Strengthening Pennsylvania’s
wage payment law will help end the practice of underpaying employees in this
state. Employers who choose to pay their
employees lesser wages than they are owed must be stopped. Please help to ensure justice for
Pennsylvania’s employees. Please support
my legislation that would update and improve Pennsylvania’s Wage Payment and
Collection Law.
Previous co-sponsors of this bill include Senators Stack,
Schwank, Costa, Hughes, Farnese and Yudichak.
No comments:
Post a Comment