City may refuse licenses to companies convicted of wage theft

The City of El Paso is preparing an ordinance meant to deter companies from stealing wages from workers. The City Council on Monday unanimously voted to direct the City Manager to draft a wage theft ordinance that would mirror the City of Houston’s law.

Houston’s ordinance forbids any person or company from obtaining or renewing any City license or permit for five years if the company has been convicted of wage theft and exhuasted all appeals. Barring persons from city licenses essentially bans them from working within the City. The ordinance also bars the city from hiring people or firms criminally convicted or assessed civil penalties or judgments related to wage theft, again provided appeals are exhausted and a civil judgment in favor of the worker goes unpaid.

The Paso Del Norte Civil Rights Project, in 2011, did a study of how many workers have been victims of wage theft and say the problem is rampant. For example, they say as many as 67-percent of low wage workers aren’t paid the overtime they’re owed.

“This issue doesn’t just affect the worker and his or her family. It affects our entire community. The paying of rent to the landlord, the buying of goods to the local store, tax revenue for the city and even all the good businesses out there that are forced to compete against those businesses who can undercut them with bids because they’re not paying the workers,” said Jed Untereker, with the Paso Del Norte Civil Right Project.

Wage theft convictions are rare, partly because companies can appeal pretty extensively and many workers don’t file official complaints with the texas workforce commission or take their employers to small claims court.

The Council heard from two women who said they were victims of wage theft and did not get the money owed to them even after going to small claims court. A

According to the study, more than 50% of low wage workers in El Paso have experienced wage theft, especially those in domestic work or construction. Christina Morales, a sociologist who worked on the study said more than half of household workers in El Paso live below the poverty level.