New Chicago Wage Theft Law Sets Model for Nation

Camille Beredjick

A car wash worker testifies before a Chicago City Council committee about having his wages stolen by an employer. (Courtesy of Arise Chicago)
Chicago’s City Council unanimously passed a wage theft law Thursday that labor activists hope will set a standard for other cities around the United States. Under the new law, companies convicted of wage theft—which includes unpaid overtime or hourly pay below the minimum wage—could have their business licenses revoked. Before Thursday’s vote, members of the labor group Arise Chicago and other workers and activists showed up in droves to committee hearings. Labor activists agreed to one concession: a provision of the bill specifying that businesses could lose their licenses only after willful or egregious violations,” a means of protecting companies who miscalculate workers’ pay by accident.
According to a 2012 report from Progressive States Network, the ratio of federal Department of Labor enforcement agents to U.S. workers is a dismal one to every 141,000. With less enforcement and accountability, activists say, it’s easier for companies to mistreat workers.  “In low-wage industries,” said [Arise Chicago’s Adam] Kader, “it’s standard practice to be practicing wage theft.” Now, he said, “there’s another force that they have to reckon with, which is the threat of losing their license.” Advocates say Chicago is now the second, and the largest, U.S. city with such a law on the books. San Francisco was the first.
Please consider supporting our work.

I hope you found this article important. Before you leave, I want to ask you to consider supporting our work with a donation. In These Times needs readers like you to help sustain our mission. We don’t depend on—or want—corporate advertising or deep-pocketed billionaires to fund our journalism. We’re supported by you, the reader, so we can focus on covering the issues that matter most to the progressive movement without fear or compromise.

Our work isn’t hidden behind a paywall because of people like you who support our journalism. We want to keep it that way. If you value the work we do and the movements we cover, please consider donating to In These Times.

Camille Beredjick is a student of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University and a Spring 2013 ITT intern.
Illustrated cover of Gaza issue. Illustration shows an illustrated representation of Gaza, sohwing crowded buildings surrounded by a wall on three sides. Above the buildings is the sun, with light shining down. Above the sun is a white bird. Text below the city says: All Eyes on Gaza
Get 10 issues for $19.95

Subscribe to the print magazine.