Proposed San Francisco legislation to enforce minimum wage

San Francisco Supervisor David Campos recently proposed new legislation to crack down on employers who pay their workers less than minimum wage, according to the San Francisco Appeal.

The legislation would require city agencies such as the Office of Labor Standards Enforcement to complete investigations into workplace violations within a year. Agencies would be given greater access to workplaces, and the penalties for wage theft and employer retaliation would be increased. Currently, employer retaliation is penalized with a $500 fine and wage theft is punishable by a fine of up to $5,000. These would be doubled under Campos' legislation. Additionally, a new penalty of $500 would be imposed for failure to post minimum wage standards in the workplace.

A study recently conducted by the Chinese Progressive Association found that 50 percent of workers in Chinatown restaurants are paid less than the minimum wage, 42 percent were denied meal and rest breaks and almost three-quarters were not paid overtime. Nearly one in five reporting that they clocked more than 60 hours a week in employee attendance.