Should companies with a history of serious wage theft be awarded government contracts? The answer seems obvious: If the government has to choose between a law-abiding company and one that offers a lower bid because it is ripping off its employees, the law-abiding company should win.
But one investigation An investigation published last week by ProPublica and Documented identified 25 employers with serious wage theft records who received New York city and state contracts collectively worth $500 million since 2018.
Wage theft occurs when workers do not receive everything they are owed: when workers are completely cheated, not paid for all the time worked, receive lower than normal wages, do not work overtime, or are robbed of tips.
Wage theft is rampant: 2017 Economic Policy Institute report study looked at one form of wage theft — minimum wage violations — in the 10 most populous states and found that 2.4 million workers are being deprived of $8 billion a year, which represents an average loss of $3,300 per year. ProPublica Last year reported that 127,000 New Yorkers lost more than $200 million over a five-year period to wage theft.
Employers who do not follow the law should not be awarded government contracts. Companies with poor compliance records often have Performance issuesbut more importantly, public funds should create quality jobs with good wages and conditions.
Compliance with labor rules must be integrated into the public procurement process. Laws must clearly stipulate that bidders will be disqualified from public procurement if they have a history of serious wage theft: repeat offenders and perpetrators of flagrant, deliberate or widespread violations.
New York Law Today disqualified bidders who have committed crimes related to corruption, government fraud or bribery; wage theft should be added to this list.
Implementation is also key. Although procurement is decentralized and takes place across many different agencies, clear protocols could help weed out dishonest bidders.
Companies seeking government contracts should be required to disclose any prior investigations, lawsuits, or agreements involving alleged violations of worker protection laws. In addition, employers’ wage theft records should be published in publicly accessible databases that procurement officers (the government employees who make contracting decisions) should consult.
THE United States Department of Laboras well as states like Massachusetts And Texasdisclose labor law violations on their websites. In addition, the nonprofit Good Jobs First maintains a Violation tracking database containing wage violations and similar lists.
Purchasing managers must be given clear and training on how to look for wage theft violations. There should also be protocols for assessing a company’s history: Were the violations minor? Were they limited but concerning, so that ongoing monitoring could help ensure future compliance? Or is this a company that simply should not be allowed to be a government contractor?
If the potential subcontractor is the only available supplier for a critical government service, oversight is required; the government should also diversify its sources of subcontracting and consider outsourcing the work internally, rather than outsourcing it to another contractor. privatization he.
Workers, labor organizations, and the public should have a clear avenue to voice their concerns, as well as tools to track down government contractors (New York State Comptroller And New York City have web pages for this purpose). Indeed, The consequences of purchases can be a valuable tool in the fight against wage theft in general.
Government contracts should lead to high-quality jobs, whether through prevailing wage requirements, living wage laws or other measures. The nonprofit Jobs to Move America created the US Jobs Plana policy tool that helps government agencies integrate job quality into the procurement process. It requires bidders to disclose details about the jobs they will create if they win a government contract — and forces them to deliver on those promises.
Improving working conditions through government contracts is especially important as federal infrastructure funds flow to states and local governments. Ensuring compliance with labor laws is, again, a minimal first step.
New York isn’t the only place where some government contractors have violated workers’ rights. Some jurisdictions have already taken steps to address the situation. ProPublica’s report singles out Washington state, where a 2017 law was passed by the Supreme Court. law disqualifies bidders who have committed willful violations in the past three years. Even in Republican states, cities like Austin And Columbus created systems to prevent wage-stealing employers from accessing government contracts.
There are many insoluble problems in today’s world, but this is not one of them. The lowest bidder should never be a company that cheats its employees, not in New York, not anywhere else.
Gerstein is the director of the NYU Wagner Labor Initiative.
