The Colorado General Assembly's House Judiciary Committee approved a proposed wage theft bill that would make intentional underpayment of certain wages a criminal offense, according to www.constructiondive.com.
In Colorado, it currently is a misdemeanor to intentionally short employees on their paychecks; the new measure would make it a felony theft to willfully underpay them by $2,000 or more. The bill includes migratory and foreign workers under the definition of "employee."
One of the bill's stated intentions is to provide an additional vehicle for state law enforcement to fight labor trafficking by recognizing labor as having value and being subject to theft. According to the General Assembly, labor trafficking each year costs Colorado workers hundreds of millions of dollars and loses tens of millions of dollars for the state.
The Colorado Fiscal Institute reports more than 500,0000 workers in the state—many of whom are in the construction industry—lose $750 million per year because of wage theft. The institute's analysis shows the most common methods employers use to short employees on their paychecks are nonpayment, which includes late payments and not paying employees what they've earned; underpayment; misclassification of employees as independent contractors to avoid having to pay benefits; and unauthorized payroll deductions for expenses such as transportation, materials and tools.
