You didn’t get paid overtime. Your boss forced you to work off the clock before or after your shift. Your boss disappeared without paying you. In other words, you got stiffed by your boss.

This is called wage theft, and it’s far too common. The Oregon Center for Public Policy is working with others in the Oregon Coalition to Stop Wage Theft to eradicate it from Oregon.

Wage theft is already illegal; the problem is that too many unscrupulous employers in Oregon get away with it.

When talking about wage theft in our state, you can’t ignore the construction industry. It is ground zero for wage theft in Oregon. So it’s encouraging to see the Oregon legislature considering a new way to fight wage theft in the construction industry with HB 4154.

The bill was approved by the House Committee on Business and Labor earlier this month and could see a vote in the Rules Committee on Tuesday, February 20 at 3 p.m.

Let’s hope lawmakers seize this opportunity to protect workers at the ground zero of wage theft.