New Wage Theft Law Causing Headaches for Minnesota Businesses
ST. CLOUD -- A new state law is causing headaches for the state's employers -- or at least the people who work in Human Resources. In May of last year, the state legislature passed the "Minnesota Wage Theft Prevention Act" to create additional protections for workers.
St. Cloud Area Chamber of Commerce President Teresa Bohnen says the law is adding a lot of extra paperwork for employers.
The overall problem was about a $12 million problem that affected 39,000 Minnesotans. To put that into context of the total employment in Minnesota it's like .125% of the people impacted. So we're making all the employers do all this work. It's like HIPPA for private businesses.
Bohnen says she's held a roundtable discussion on the topic with several local businesses, which include many of the St. Cloud area lawmakers. She is hoping to convince them to make some amendments to the new law during the upcoming legislative session.
The law added criminal penalties for employers that commit wage theft. It also included additional funding to allow the Department of Labor and Industry to add staff for enforcement of the law.