Special Notice / Hearing: None__
Vote Required: Majority
To: Honorable Board of Supervisors
From: Supervisor Dave Pine, District One
Supervisor Ray Mueller, District Three
Subject: Creating an Office of Labor Standards Enforcement
RECOMMENDATION:
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Adopt a resolution authorizing and directing the County Executive to:
A) Take all steps necessary to establish an Office of Labor Standards Enforcement (OLSE) within the County Executive's Office; and
B) Return to the Board on or about June 30, 2024, to report back on the overall scope, roles, and responsibilities of the OLSE.
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BACKGROUND:
Wage and hour and other labor violations are a significant problem in California and in the County. They take many forms, including failure to pay minimum wage and overtime; requiring employees to work off-the-clock; failing to afford employees mealtimes to which they are entitled; and misclassification of workers. The following statistics reflect the extent of the issue, falling largely upon the shoulders of low-wage workers:
* The California Labor Commissioner's Office, also known as the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE), recovered $221,017,758 in wages from 2017 to 2020 throughout California.
* The DLSE estimates that employers who misclassify their workers are in effect shifting costs to the State of more than $7 billion every year in the form of increased safety net spending.
* A 2015 study by UCLA and UC Berkeley Centers for Labor Research and Education estimated that in any given week, 11-12% of minimum wage workers experience minimum wage violations.
* In 2014, minimum wage violations increased poverty rates among California workers who experienced wage theft by 22.9%.
* In 2015, a sum of $1.979 billion in wages was not paid to California's minimum wage workers, for an average percentage of 22.3% in earned wages not paid.
There is, however, a large gap between the problem of wage theft and enforcement. Wh...
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