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A bill passed in the Oregon Legislature‘s recent short session targets contractors who cheat workers of their wages.

SB 1587-B contains a package of policy tools intended to combat wage and hour violations, or 鈥渨age theft,鈥� with a goal of increasing enforcement against owners who don’t pay employees what they’re owed under Oregon’s prevailing wage law.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Michael Dembrow, D-Portland, passed both legislative houses and now awaits Gov. Kate Brown‘s signature.

The bill, in a nutshell, will:

鈥� bring state requirements for recording time and pay in line with federal standards;

鈥� specify information that must be included in an itemized paystub;

鈥� make a violation of prevailing wage laws a Class C felony; and

鈥� authorize the Bureau of Labor and Industries to fund three new wage and hour investigator positions (there are seven currently).

Though similar efforts have failed in previous legislative sessions, this one, including amendments favored by the business community, passed relatively easily 鈥� 21-7 in the Senate and 59-1 in the House of Representatives.

鈥淲e got to a point where it was pretty noncontroversial,鈥� said Logan Gilles, Dembrow’s chief policy adviser. 鈥淣ot only was it a bipartisan bill, it was supported by groups in both labor and industry.鈥�

Construction has been the industry hit hardest by wage theft, according to BOLI. Along with workers who are underpaid, law-abiding construction companies also are hurt, BOLI spokesman Charlie Burr said. Several large Portland firms, including Hoffman Construction, supported this bill in Salem.

鈥淢any contractors want to see strong enforcement, because it’s unfair to have to face competition from these companies who are skirting the rules,鈥� Burr said.

Dan Harmon, executive vice president of Hoffman, testified that three former Hoffman subcontractors had committed wage theft over the past three to four years. Those firms, including two that performed janitorial services, preyed on 鈥渧ulnerable鈥� people by promising prevailing wage, but together cheated their workers out of approximately $500,000.

鈥淭hey would falsify their payroll that it would appear to us at Hoffman that their people had been properly paid, but in effect what these people were doing was stealing their employees’ money,鈥� Harmon said.

Harmon said that previous penalties weren’t stiff enough. Before passage of the bill, BOLI’s punishment regime for prevailing wage law violations typically inclueded fines and debarment.

鈥淔or a lot of these people, it’s pretty easy to go make a straw person and get back into business and do it again,鈥� he said. 鈥淪o what we’re doing is creating disincentives. If you engage in these kinds of activities, it’s now a Class C felony. It’s no different than common theft.鈥�