Statement Regarding Final Passage of SB 1587

The Oregon Coalition to Stop Wage Theft started this legislative session with Senate Bill 1587, which intended to make it more difficult for companies to get away with cheating workers out of pay. The Coalition worked really hard on the bill, and garnered the support of many legislators and campaigns, including Fair Shot for All, which made wage theft one of its priorities. 

However, in the legislative process, a key provision of the bill was removed, one that would have allowed workers to force employers to comply with the law through the courts. This was such a critical component for workers to enforce their rights, that without it, the Coalition could not support the bill.
 
While Senate Bill 1587 is a first step toward protecting workers from wage theft, the reality is that it’s going to take a lot more to fix what’s broken with our system. The barriers for workers to reclaim their stolen wages remain despite this bill. 
 
The Oregon Coalition to Stop Wage Theft remains committed to this issue. We will come back in 2017 with legislation that prevents workers from being robbed of their hard earned pay and holds intentional and excessive violators accountable for shortchanging workers. We are putting dishonest employers on notice: we won’t stop fighting until workers can be sure they will be paid what they’re owed.