Justice Shouldn’t Wait for Bad Bosses to Cooperate
Until recently, bad bosses who stole wages from their own workers could try to get away with it by using government bureaucracy to cause delays or derail the whole effort. The Washington State Supreme Court recently issued a decision that could change that for good, if government agencies act wisely. This could mean fair treatment for individual workers whose bosses rob us of our hard earned wages, and the opportunity to use enforcement to change the bad behaviors of bad employers in whole industries.
In his concurring opinion on the decision, Justice Steven González cited our very own Fair Work Center’s 2022 report on wage theft in King County, underscoring how widespread wage theft really is. The problem is much more common than most people know. Employers stole the wages of 3 out of 10 of their own workers in King county between 2009 and 2019!
We have many strong laws to protect workers in Washington, but oftentimes workers are too scared to speak up or find that, when we do, bad bosses try to hide evidence or derail investigations that could lead to justice for workers. But enforcement agencies don’t have to (and shouldn’t!) let the shady tactics of bad bosses stop them from doing the work to enforce our rights at work and prevent unfair companies from violating our rights in the first place.
The case at the center of the state Supreme Court’s recent decision began when multiple workers at a cannabis business spoke out about not being fully paid what they were owed for their work. Rather than cooperate fully with the investigation by the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries (L&I), it resisted efforts to uncover the full scope of violations against its workers. When the company did not reach a settlement agreement with them, L&I persisted in trying to enforce the law against wage theft to help the workers recover wages the company owed to them.
In court, the company argued that L&I shouldn’t be allowed to sue a company unless it first issued a formal demand calculating exactly how much money was owed. This was something L&I was reluctant to do without the full records the company refused to provide.
Fortunately, the Supreme Court stepped in and sided with the workers and L&I. This means that government agencies like L&I can continue to push forward with enforcing the law without being tripped up by an employer’s refusal to share critical information during an investigation. This is a win for workers and the organizations that we use to enforce our rights.
This decision by the state Supreme Court is a reminder for us that enforcement doesn’t have to be just reactive. Filing paperwork and waiting for a company to cooperate isn’t good enough. Enforcement can be used to investigate industry-wide patterns and to try to change the bad behavior of bosses and companies at scale. In other words, it can be used to decrease violations of the law across entire industries, protect workers who are most at risk, and ensure that bad bosses don’t think that dodging investigations for violating workers’ rights is just a routine cost of doing business.
We have some of the strongest workplace standards and workers rights laws in the country. But that strength is just an on-paper formality without good enforcement. In a time when many workers feel like government institutions aren’t on our side or are either unequipped or unwilling to help us fight for our rights and wellbeing, strategic enforcement offers a different vision. If we want our labor laws to actually mean something and make a difference in the lives of workers, we need enforcement agencies, worker organizations, and community groups who are willing to go beyond the routine paperwork. Enforcement should be about shaping employer behavior to increase compliance with the law and fight for economic justice.