Press Release  AG Healey Issues First-Ever Labor Day Report on Efforts to Combat Wage Theft, Revamps Workplace Rights Website with Innovative Features

Boston — To commemorate Labor Day and as a part of her continued efforts to protect workers and their families in Massachusetts, Attorney General Maura Healey today issued the first-ever Labor Day Report on her office’s efforts to combat and prevent wage theft. The report shows that in fiscal year 2016 alone, the office recovered $3.8 million in restitution and penalties on behalf of working people in Massachusetts.

AG Healey also announced her revamped workplace rights website with a new design and innovative features, including searchable public data and content in various languages. The new easy-to-navigate website will allow workers to better understand their rights and for employers, their obligations under state law.

“Wage theft is far too common, especially among vulnerable workers,” AG Healey said. “Our office will continue our efforts to aggressively use enforcement actions and educational outreach to help combat and prevent such theft. In Massachusetts, getting paid what you are owed is not a privilege, it is a right under the law. Everyone deserves an opportunity to participate fairly in our economy.”

AG Healey’s Labor Day Report reflects the activities of the Fair Labor Division in fiscal year 2016. The AG’s Fair Labor Division is responsible for enforcing state laws regulating the payment of wages, including prevailing wage, minimum wage and overtime, as well as some of the newest workplace protections such as earned sick leave and the domestic workers bill of rights. 

In fiscal year 2016, the Fair Labor Division received more than 6,000 complaints – up 33 percent from the previous year, and issued 423 citations against employers. To address the rise in wage theft in Massachusetts, the AG’s Office is strategically targeting enforcement efforts against problematic employers in specific industries, including commercial cleaning, construction, health care, restaurants, and staffing agencies.

The AG’s Office has also focused on educational outreach, particularly around new workplace protections, to ensure that employees and employers understand the law. The AG’s Office held more than 100 outreach and training sessions around the earned sick time law, and handled approximately 10,000 inquiries from employees and employers about the law.

As another part of her efforts to prevent and combat wage theft, the AG launched a new workplace rights website that offers databases of searchable public data including civil citations issued by the AG’s Fair Labor Division, employers who have been debarred from contracting with the state or a municipal entity for public works, and the AG’s bid protest decisions for public works and building construction bids.

It also includes content and educational materials in various languages including Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Haitian Creole, Vietnamese, Cape Verdean Creole, Khmer, Lao, Russian, Italian, French, Arabic, Ukrainian and Korean.

Workers who believe that their rights have been violated in their workplace are encouraged to call the Office’s Fair Labor Hotline at (617) 727-3465 or visit the Attorney General’s Workplace Rights website www.mass.gov/ago/fairlabor.

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