According to Thomas Altenhofen, his previous company owes him approximately $1,700 in earnings that were stolen.
Altenhofen said his paychecks from Phil’s Meat Market & Delicatessen in Portland either stopped arriving on time or were barely worth half of what he was due shortly after he started working there. Four months later, he quit the company. A few months later, he turned to the state Bureau of Labor and Industries, which is responsible for upholding worker rights in Oregon, for assistance.
June was the month. His claim has only undergone preliminary processing thus far, so he is unsure of how long a resolution might take. The labor bureau’s enormous backlog of wage claims and civil rights complaints pertaining to discrimination in housing and employment is the source of this poor pace. As bureau officials get ready to persuade lawmakers for a large budget boost in the next parliamentary session, the agency’s long-standing backlog problem is taking center stage.
There is disagreement among state authorities on the best way to address the issue. Labor Commissioner Christina Stephenson’s request for an additional almost $18 million, which will pay 72 new positions to break the impasse, has received backing from some lawmakers. Governor Tina Kotek, whose recommended budget was announced in December and includes all of the posts the commissioner requested, likewise fully supports the proposal. However, several lawmakers and employees are upset about a new policy that would only look into the allegations of lower-paid staff.
As initially reported by The Oregonian/OregonLive, the bureau started giving wage claims priority in November according to a new criterion: the worker’s income level. We are no longer looking into claims filed by individuals earning over $25.34 per hour, or around $53,000 annually. Stephenson presented the salary level to lawmakers in the autumn, arguing that it was an essential step in giving priority to the state’s most vulnerable employees, who are unlikely to have any other means of obtaining their compensation outside of her agency.
According to Stephenson, there are tens of thousands of claims, and after more than a year, there is a natural attrition rate. Now, the money is important. In 24 months, it won’t matter.
When lawmakers heard such presentations, their reactions ranged from fear to rage.
Rep. Shelly Boshart Davis, R-Albany, said, “I don’t know how you tell someone, like a truck driver or a steel worker, that your wage claim doesn’t matter.” I think it is just unacceptable to dismiss it completely.
Stephenson and other labor bureau officials have hurried to explain that the bureau is not dismissing claims, but rather that it is still monitoring them and providing all workers with some assistance even in the absence of an inquiry. Additionally, a great number of claims have been rejected as a result of the policy: Just 74 claims that the workers make too much money have been sent to the labor bureau in the past two months, and they will be closed without an investigation. As of September, there were over 3,000 wage claims pending processing and investigation; that is a very small portion of those claims.
Advocates and employees have also had conflicting opinions about the earnings level. Some, like Altenhofen, are concerned that the agency’s weakened enforcement may give employers of middle-class workers the impression that they can get away with paying their staff less.
Altenhofen’s claim is eligible for inquiry because his base wage at his previous work was around $22 per hour before tips. However, he claimed that it is still another insult to labor that he would have been disqualified for three extra dollars per hour.
He claimed that almost all of his money were used up in order to support himself during the months when he was unpaid. He said that he couldn’t afford to hire a lawyer to defend him in court, even if he were earning an extra $10 per hour. His former employer’s lawyer opted not to comment.
Others, however, commend the agency for its resolve to work more forcefully to clear the backlog that has long hampered Oregon’s wage claim procedure.
According to Kate Suisman, an attorney with the Northwest Workers Justice Project, a nonprofit that counsels and defends low-wage workers in wage theft cases, “I think they’re doing what they have to.” Over the past few years, she has witnessed firsthand the devastation caused by the salary claim backlog. “It felt pretty bad telling workers your best bet is to go to (the labor bureau) and it will take a year and a half,” she said in response to workers who called to inquire where they could find assistance.
According to Laura van Enckevort, head of the wage division, the labor bureau nevertheless notifies businesses whenever a wage claim is submitted, even if it is not being looked into. According to the agency’s data, in around half of all situations, that letter of notification is sufficient to settle the claim.
According to her, investigators in the wage division of the labor bureau will also continue to maintain a list of all uninvestigated claims. If the backlog permits, they want to reopen those that haven’t been handled with the notice to the employer.
However, agency authorities say they need more people to clear the backlogs and carry out other enforcement duties related to paid leave and housing. Over the years, the Bureau of Labor and Industries has been given ever-greater enforcement responsibilities by the Legislature, but the number of employees it has allocated to carry out those duties has not kept up. Today, the labor bureau employs one staff member for every 20,000 workers in the state, which is a decrease from forty years ago. According to a September agency report, it had one employee for every 5,750 workers in 1980.
Stephenson expressed her gratitude to the governor for supporting her budget proposal through a spokeswoman.
Different lawmakers have different opinions regarding the causes of the agency’s problems and potential solutions after hearing Stephenson’s speeches on the subject. The budget proposal has drawn criticism from Boshart Davis, who opposed the wages requirement in September.
According to a spokeswoman, Oregon bureaucrats know they will receive more funding from the Democrat-controlled Legislature, so they keep asking for it without having to face difficult questions about their performance. Without significant transformation, we cannot afford to just throw more money at issues.
Others claimed that by neglecting to guarantee sufficient financing, the Legislature has played a significant role.
At a September 25 meeting of the House Interim Committee on Labor and Workplace Standards, Rep. Dacia Grayber, D-Portland, stated, “This is decades, years of systemic underinvestment.” We are required to address this going ahead.
Workers wait in the interim.
now Altenhofen’s previous employer has now filed for bankruptcy, he has little chance of getting his money back outside of the labor bureau’s special fund for victims of failing businesses.
Unless the agency upholds his rights, he has no alternative means of recovering his lost income.
For this reason, even those who support the wage claim threshold claim to be constantly assessing the effects of the legislation. According to Van Enckevort, the agency reviews the policy every 45 days to make sure it is still acceptable.
“We would definitely reconsider (whether) we need this as soon as we’re able to alleviate the work on our investigators,” van Enckevort stated.
Through InvestigateWest, Kaylee Tornay
An independent nonprofit news organization devoted to investigative journalism in the Pacific Northwest is called InvestigateWest (investigatewest.org). Kaylee Tornay, a reporter, reports on health care, youth, and labor problems. You can contact her at X@ka_tornay, 503-877-4108, or [email protected].
