CalMatters’ wage theft reporting helps inspire legislation

From CalMatters Capitol reporter Jeanne Kuang:

After a 2022 CalMatters series documenting long waits and low payouts for workers who claim their employers have shorted them on wages, California lawmakers have now proposed bills to try to ease the backlogs. 

One measure, Senate Bill 310 by San Francisco Democratic Sen. Scott Wiener, would allow workers to recoup more money through private lawsuits instead of filing claims through a heavily delayed system at the Labor Commissioner’s Office.

CalMatters reported that between 2017 and 2021, it took the understaffed office an average of 505 days to decide on workers’ wage theft claims — far longer than the 135 days required by state law. That wait time has since soared to more than 850 days, a state audit published last year found. 

• Erik Mebust, a spokesperson for Wiener: “We were really struck by some of the reporting about how long people waited and how broken the systems were for workers to receive compensation. When advocates came to us citing (CalMatters’) reporting it was a very compelling pitch.”

Workers claiming wage theft can file private suits; join with coworkers to sue the business on behalf of the state; or file an individual claim with the Labor Commissioner’s Office, which decides on the claims in administrative hearings. 

The latter two options are both flawed, Mebust said: While the group lawsuits lead to faster resolutions than the backlogged administrative claims, the suits usually lead to lower payouts. The bill would allow workers filing individual private lawsuits to claim not only their lost wages but also civil penalties. 

The proposal is likely to receive pushback from business groups. The California Chamber of Commerce wrote in a 2023 blog post that the state should process wage claims faster, but should not “shift more enforcement” to private attorneys. A spokesperson for the group did not respond to a request for comment on the bill. 

Another bill, by Fremont Democratic Sen. Aisha Wahab, aims to push employers to pay up faster after workers have won their claims. SB 261 would require the Labor Commissioner’s Office to publicly post all its decisions against employers who have not yet paid claims. It would also allow the office to seek more fines against employers who do not pay within six months.

CalMatters found in the 2022 series that even after workers win their claims, only about one in seven judgments are paid. 

Californians voted against Proposition 6 in November, which would have limited the use of forced prison labor as a form of punishment. Now supporters of the measure are reintroducing it for 2026, bringing along the lessons they learned from last year, writes CalMatters’ Joe Garcia.

One focus for Prop. 6 supporters, which include California’s Legislative Black Caucus and the Reparations Task Force, is clearing up the language: Forced prison labor is considered one of the last vestiges of legal slavery, but Prop. 6’s ballot language did not mention the term. This time, its new version will state: “Slavery in all forms is prohibited.” 

Assemblymember Lori Wilson, the Suisun City Democrat who wrote the bill behind Prop. 6, also said voters were confused over the ballot stating that it prohibits state prisons “from disciplining people who refuse to work.”

• Wilson: “That was a hangup for a lot of voters who were supportive about the concept, but were concerned about this language that they can’t be disciplined and what does that mean?”

Beyond messaging, Prop. 6 supporters say a shift in sentiment — spurred by the incarcerated firefighters who helped battle the Los Angeles County wildfires — could help the cause.

Read more here

Match Group, the company behind Tinder, Hinge and more than a dozen dating apps, has known for years about the abusive users on its platform, but leaves its users in the dark. That’s the result of an 18-month investigation by The Dating Apps Reporting Project, a collaboration that includes The Markup, which is now a part of CalMatters.

Reporters Emily Elena Dugdale and Hanisha Harjani combed through hundreds of pages of internal company documents, along with thousands of pages of court records and securities filings. They found women who report being raped got no traction while accused rapists keep swiping — and assaulting.

Our independent tests of their products, led by CalMatters/The Markup’s statistical journalist Natasha Uzcátegui-Liggett found that, despite years of company promises, banned Tinder users — including those reported for sexual assault — can easily rejoin or move to another Match Group dating app, all while keeping key personal information exactly the same.

Read more here.

On Tuesday Fremont’s city council voted on a controversial measure that homelessness advocates argue could be used to target activists and aid workers. Find out what the ordinance is and what the city council decided from CalMatters homelessness reporter Marisa Kendall.