DC City Council Passes Wage Theft & Ban the Box Bills

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)DC workers won two victories Monday at the DC City Council with the passage of both the Wage Theft Prevention Act and Ban the Box bill. “Wage theft in particular has been a focus for this coalition for years and years, so it's amazing to see this day finally come,” said Ari Schwartz of DC Jobs with Justice. The wage theft bill makes it a crime for employers to pay less than the minimum wage, to advertise one wage for a job and then pay a lower one or to manipulate workers’ hours to prevent them from qualifying for higher levels of compensation. The “ban the box” bill bans employers from asking job applicants if they have been arrested or convicted of a crime until after an initial job offer is extended. “Now onto making sure the laws are enforced and organizing against bad actors who break them,” Schwartz added.