Ohio Cuts Funding for Dept. of Commerce Minimum Wage Enforcement
posted by Neil Klingshirn | Dec 21, 2009 12:49 PM [EST] | applies to Ohio
This is troubling. According to a press release issued by Policy Matters, the current Ohio state budget has no funding for ongoing minimum wage enforcement. Specifically, Policy Matters states:Funding for minimum-wage enforcement will cease July 1
Funding for enforcement of Ohio’s minimum wage law will be eliminated starting in July under the budget approved by the General Assembly last July. A modest amount -- $150,000 – is budgeted for continuing enforcement of the prevailing wage law next fiscal year,1 which like the minimum wage is also enforced by the Labor and Worker Safety Bureau (LAWS) of the Ohio Department of Commerce. However, the main funding for LAWS will fall to zero from $1,492,677 in the current fiscal year.
While the funding cut-off for the next fiscal year may have been inadvertent, as many observers say, the result if nothing is done will be that Ohio’s constitutional requirement of a minimum wage will not be enforced by the state. According to the amendment adopted by voters in 2006, employees and others have a right to file complaints over violations, and “Such complaint shall be promptly investigated and resolved by the state.”
Minimum-wage complaints filed with the state have soared since the passage of the amendment, as shown in the chart below. Collections resulting from such complaints have also risen: Source: Ohio Department of Commerce, Labor and Worker Safety Bureau 1 This amount comes from the Penalty Enforcement Fund, which is funded by penalties assessed against companies that have violated the prevailing wage law. Funding from the General Revenue Fund has been eliminated.
Though slashing the funding entirely is a particularly drastic development, the state has reduced its funding of its wage laws previously (the bureau also enforces the state’s labor laws covering minors). The current fiscal year’s funding of $1.64 million represents a decline of nearly $500,000 or 23 percent from spending last fiscal year. In 1999, the bureau that is now LAWS had 17 investigators and employed a total of 28; it now has 13 investigators and a total staff of 19.
Recent national reports have indicated that wage theft is widespread. A study released in September of low-wage workers in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York found that a quarter of them were paid less than the legally required wage in the week prior to when they were interviewed, usually by more than $1 an hour.3 Kimberly Zurz, director of the Department of Commerce, said she is working to find the funding for LAWS. Ohio needs to find a way to provide adequate support to abide by its constitution and enforce this basic worker protection.
Minimum wage victims often have the fewest means to fight back. State enforcement of the minimum wage law is critical to protecting vulnerable workers. Hopefully the defunding was, in fact, "inadvertent," whatever that means.Funding for enforcement of Ohio’s minimum wage law will be eliminated starting in July under the budget approved by the General Assembly last July. A modest amount -- $150,000 – is budgeted for continuing enforcement of the prevailing wage law next fiscal year,1 which like the minimum wage is also enforced by the Labor and Worker Safety Bureau (LAWS) of the Ohio Department of Commerce. However, the main funding for LAWS will fall to zero from $1,492,677 in the current fiscal year.
While the funding cut-off for the next fiscal year may have been inadvertent, as many observers say, the result if nothing is done will be that Ohio’s constitutional requirement of a minimum wage will not be enforced by the state. According to the amendment adopted by voters in 2006, employees and others have a right to file complaints over violations, and “Such complaint shall be promptly investigated and resolved by the state.”
Minimum-wage complaints filed with the state have soared since the passage of the amendment, as shown in the chart below. Collections resulting from such complaints have also risen: Source: Ohio Department of Commerce, Labor and Worker Safety Bureau 1 This amount comes from the Penalty Enforcement Fund, which is funded by penalties assessed against companies that have violated the prevailing wage law. Funding from the General Revenue Fund has been eliminated.
Though slashing the funding entirely is a particularly drastic development, the state has reduced its funding of its wage laws previously (the bureau also enforces the state’s labor laws covering minors). The current fiscal year’s funding of $1.64 million represents a decline of nearly $500,000 or 23 percent from spending last fiscal year. In 1999, the bureau that is now LAWS had 17 investigators and employed a total of 28; it now has 13 investigators and a total staff of 19.
Recent national reports have indicated that wage theft is widespread. A study released in September of low-wage workers in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York found that a quarter of them were paid less than the legally required wage in the week prior to when they were interviewed, usually by more than $1 an hour.3 Kimberly Zurz, director of the Department of Commerce, said she is working to find the funding for LAWS. Ohio needs to find a way to provide adequate support to abide by its constitution and enforce this basic worker protection.
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Neil Klingshirn
AV rated Super Lawyer and Employment Law Specialist
Independence, OH
Phone: 216-382-2500