Scott Jensen – RI Future

June 23, 2016June 24, 2016

Significant protections against wage theft passed

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After years of struggle the Rhode Island General Assembly under the leadership of Senator Donna Nesslebush, and Representative Joe Shekarchi have passed a bill that finally makes the scourge of wage theft a crime. Stealing workers’ wages has always been civil offense with serious hurdles from the bureaucracies that were supposed to help. With close consultation with the DLT and Director Scott Jensen and legislative stakeholder meetings, House Bill 7628 and Senate Bill 2475 passed in the small morning hours on Saturday June 18.

These bills will provide for serious penalties including fines and imprisonment for taking from working Rhode Islanders. Perhaps the most significant penalty is the loss of a business license, the bills also empower the director of the Department of Labor and Training to determine compliance. Encouraging responsible reporting and discouraging false claims, the process of private suit has meaningful safeguards in place.

“Too often we see workers awarded a judgment by DLT only to have the employer refuse to pay what is owed,” said Robert McCreanor executive director of the worker advocacy law firm The Rhode Island Center for Justice. With the power to revoke business licenses from offending employers who refuse to comply with its rulings, DLT will be able to compel prompt payment and get more money, more efficiently, into the hands of the worker who earned it. While more work needs to be done to address the growing problem of wage theft, this bill provides an important tool for Rhode Island workers.”

Said Lidia Jimenez a member of Fuerza Laboral, “As a worker that has had their wages stolen, I feel proud that my testimony and that of Flor Salazar helped elected officials understand the atrocities that are committed daily by bad employers who feel that justice will not reach them and take our daily bread. This will help put an end to some of the abuse.” It is estimated by Economic Progress Institute that over $50,000,000,000 per year are stolen from workers’ wages. The process of enforcement historically has been spotty and difficult to apply.

Jeremy Rix who is running for 2nd ward of the Warwick City Council said, “I’m thrilled that the wage theft reforms introduced by Rep. Shekarchi become law. This law will deter many unethical employers from stealing wages, and provide a meaningful path for vulnerable employees to recover their stolen earnings.”

The organizations that have participated in the effort to pass these two vital bills are: Rhode Island Jobs with Justice, The RIAFL-CIO, Fuerza Laboral, and the Rhode Island Center for Justice. Each of these organizations is committed to improving the conditions of Rhode Island’s working people.

September 2, 2015August 9, 2016

Labor reactions to Raimondo’s Workplace Fraud Unit settlement with Cardoso Construction

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Labor leaders and activists reacted positively to Governor Gina Raimondo‘s announcement yesterday that a “new Workplace Fraud Unit within the Department of Labor and Training‘s (DLT) Workplace Regulation and Safety division recently reached a settlement with a company that admitted to violating worker protection laws. Cardoso Construction LLC agreed to pay more than $730,000 in back wages, interest and penalties. This is the first significant action of this new unit.”

According to the press release, “DLT officials found the violation on a drywall job at the University of Rhode Island. After investigating, they determined that the company should have characterized the workers as ’employees,’ but they were mischaracterized as ‘independent contractors.'”

Cardoso Construction will, “pay a total of $351,812 in back wages to the workers, pay DLT an identical penalty of $351,812, and pay a fine of $27,000 – $1,000 per worker – for violating the state misclassification law.”

In a statement, the RI AFL-CIO wrote, “Big News and a very important step forward with a clear and strong message from Governor Gina Raimondo and DLT Director Scott Jensen that employers perpetuating fraud and deception will not be tolerated in the State of Rhode Island any longer.”

Jesse Strecker, executive director of RI Jobs With Justice, told me, “Seems to be a great step forward as far as I can tell. The DLT has definitely suffered from underfunding in the past, and it’s great to see some more resources being directed to wage and hour violations and miss-classification, all of which are hugely pervasive problems.”

Wage theft allegations have been made against several local restaurants in Rhode Island. Fuerza Laboral has protested outside Gourmet Heaven several times over the last year and protested outside the home of Cafe Atlantic owner Juan Noboa.

In the Governor’s press release, the seriousness of misclassification was outlined:

When employers misclassify employees as independent contractors, they harm workers, hurt other companies that play by the rules, and cheat taxpayers. By misclassifying workers, companies:

• Deny employees access to critical benefits such as Unemployment Insurance (UI), workers’ compensation insurance, overtime pay, and family and medical leave;

• Hurt law-abiding employers who play by the rules but are unfairly under-bid for work; and

• Cheat taxpayers by lowering tax revenues and robbing UI and workers’ compensation funds of much-needed dollars.

To combat this, the Governor has outlined a “four-point action plan”:

1. Using existing funding to create a new Workplace Fraud Unit to focus DLT’s efforts on dishonest companies

2. Coordinating state agency efforts and pooling resources to conduct investigations and bring enforcement actions with maximum impact

3. Enforcing worker protection laws to the fullest extent and spotlighting businesses that cheat

4. Fostering compliance with the law through employer outreach and education

From the Governor’s press release:

“It’s only fair to repay the employees who were underpaid for months on the job, and this agreement will achieve that,” said Raimondo. “Everyone must compete by the same rules on public projects in Rhode Island, and this settlement is sending the clear message that we will be cracking down on abuse.”

“Following the same rules as everyone else is not a barrier to success,” said DLT Director Scott Jensen. “We will continue to protect our community’s investment in our workforce, and we remain committed to helping Rhode Island companies grow their businesses and play by the rules. I also applaud the work of the Joint Task Force on the Underground Economy and Employee Misclassification, who along with the new Workplace Fraud unit, moved this case forward.”

The DLT Director leads this Task Force, which was established in 2014, and consists of DLT, the Office of the Attorney General, Division of Taxation, Department of Business Regulation, Department of Public Safety and Workers’ Compensation Court.

April 25, 2015April 27, 2015

Labor Secretary Tom Perez assesses RI’s paid leave act

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Representative David Cicilline hosted U.S. Secretary of Labor Tom Perez in Pawtucket Friday afternoon as part of “a roundtable discussion on paid leave.” Also on hand were Senator Jack Reed, Congressman Jim Langevin, State Senator Gayle Goldin, RI Department of Labor and Training Director Scott Jensen, Rhode Island AFL-CIO President George Nee and District 1199 SEIU Executive Vice President Patrick Quinn.

Before the discussion, held at Gold International Machinery and LNA Laser Technology, Company President Dan Gold gave a guided tour of his businesses and answered questions about the state of the local economy and his opinion about the future of his businesses. Gold was generally optimistic.

Secretary Perez was visiting Rhode Island as part of a “Lead on Leave” tour, in which “Perez and other Obama administration officials are currently traveling the country to meet with employers, workers, government officials, and other stakeholders to highlight the importance of paid leave.”

Noting the “regrettable gridlock” preventing smart policy from being implemented in Washington, Secretary Perez said that President Barrack Obama now defines success by, “how much work we can do with our state and local partners.” In this spirit, Rhode Island, along with California, Massachusetts and Washington State, is pioneering paid leave law. It is hoped that our experience will pave the way for a national system.

labor secretary verdict 003 — Representative David Cicilline

The United States, said Cicilline, is “one of only three countries today that does not offer paid maternity leave.” The other two are Oman, a totalitarian state, and Papua New Guinea, which has the highest levels of violence against women in the world.

Opponents say that a paid leave program will hold back business and slow economic growth, but Cicilline maintained that “nothing could be further from the truth.”

“Paid leave is good for business and employees,” said Cicilline, “Supporting programs like paid leave promotes [employee] retention, recruitment of employees and improves productivity.”

In California, 87 percent of businesses had no increased costs due to the implementation of paid leave and 9 percent of businesses, “reported that the paid leave program generated savings.” Women who receive paid leave are 39 percent less likely to receive public assistance and 40 percent less likely to be on food stamps, so paid leave can save taxpayer dollars as well.

According to figures presented by Director Jensen, about 4800 people have used the Rhode Island paid leave system in its first year after passage. 3600 used the system to care for children and 1200 to take care of family. $8.35 million was paid out, notes Jenson, so it’s a “popular program.”

State Senator Gayle Goldin was instrumental in getting Rhode Island’s version of paid leave through the General Assembly. Goldin noted that the room in Gold International Machinery where the roundtable was being held in was the same room where the Rhode Island coalition advocating for paid leave held their first press conference. She joked that the signing into law of a national paid leave act should take place in the same room.

Goldin also spoke of the many people who have told her their stories of being able to utilize paid leave under Rhode Island’s law, people who would have faced impossible financial, emotional or health related hardships had this law not been passed. Here are three such stories, from the press conference:

Company President Dan Gold spoke from the point of view of a successful business owner. “To me, there’s business, but there’s also community, and quality of life. I believe that the business community is critical for creating a quality of life for all workers.”

So often we in Rhode Island talk about how we are behind the curve in terms of business and social justice. On this issue, Rhode Island is a leader, paving the way for the rest of the country to follow.

labor secretary verdict 004 — Senator Gayle Goldin

March 9, 2015March 10, 2015

Raimondo supports a $10.10 minimum wage

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Governor Gina Raimondo announced her support of bills in the General Assembly that would raise the minimum wage in Rhode Island to $10.10 an hour at a press conference held at the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 328 on Silver Spring St. in Providence. The location was chosen because Raimondo’s grandfather helped found the union 77 years ago.

Raimondo pledged to support the bills introduced in the Rhode Island House by Representative David Bennett and in the Rhode Island Senate by Senator Erin Lynch.

“Nobody who works full time should have to live in poverty,” she said, even as she acknowledge that raising the wage to $10.10 won’t be enough. That’s why her budget, to be introduced on Thursday, will be “focused on creating more family-supporting jobs.”

Activists from the Restaurant Opportunity Center (ROC United RI) were present at the press conference and encouraged by the Governor’s support, but “they are also arguing for an increase in the wage of tipped workers who have worked without an increase in base pay for more than two decades,” according to their literature.

In an apparent nod to their concerns, Raimondo has tasked the new head of the RI Department of Labor and Training, Scott Jensen, to head up an investigation into “tipped minimum wage enforcement” and review restaurant labor law compliance after the present legislative session ends.

RI AFL-CIO President George Nee said that “we have to keep the momentum going” on raising the minimum wage, citing the “tremendous problem with income inequality.”

Deborah Norman, owner of the restaurants Rue De L’Espoir and Rue Bis said that “as a business owner I support an increase in the minimum wage to at least $10.10. It would not hurt my business in any way,” a very different message from that presented by the Rhode Island Restaurant Hospitality Association at a recent House Labor Committee hearing held to discuss Representative Bennett’s bill.