{"id":9379,"date":"2022-05-22T18:09:35","date_gmt":"2022-05-22T18:09:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shrm.org\/resourcesandtools\/hr-topics\/compensation\/pages\/house-committee-advances-wage-theft-bill.aspx"},"modified":"2022-05-22T18:09:35","modified_gmt":"2022-05-22T18:09:35","slug":"house-committee-advances-wage-theft-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/squarehr.com\/index.php\/2022\/05\/22\/house-committee-advances-wage-theft-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"House Committee Advances Wage Theft Bill"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The House Education and Labor Committee advanced a bill to raise penalties on employers who violate wage requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The Democrat-sponsored measure moved forward after a 27-19 party-line vote on May 18. The bill now goes to the full House for consideration.<\/p>\n

The Wage Theft Prevention and Wage Recovery Act<\/a> would increase civil monetary penalties for wage and hour violations and require employers to regularly provide workers with paystubs detailing how their wages are calculated. It also would limit the use of mandatory arbitration to resolve pay disputes.<\/p>\n

“It is unacceptable that dishonest employers can steal workers’ wages with little to no consequence,” tweeted Rep. Bobby Scott<\/a>, D-Va., who chairs the education and labor committee. “Each year, our most vulnerable workers are cheated out of billions of dollars. This bill would take critical steps to help workers receive the full pay they’ve earned.”<\/p>\n

Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, introduced a companion measure<\/a> in the Senate, also on May 18.<\/p>\n

Targeting Wage Theft<\/p>\n

In a committee fact sheet<\/a>, the bill’s supporters said that “dishonest employers are able to steal worker pay in violation of the FLSA without the worry of significant consequences,” because:<\/p>\n