California鈥檚 independent state auditor will investigate the understaffed California Labor Commissioner鈥檚 Office over its persistent backlogs in workers鈥� wage theft claims, issues by CalMatters.
The audit would start Sept. 1 鈥� that is if budget hearings before then don鈥檛 first address the agency鈥檚 problems to the satisfaction of lawmakers who approved the investigation.
The Joint Legislative Audit Committee last week called for the audit over the objections of some of the state鈥檚 biggest labor unions, who argued the probe was unnecessary.
Labor Commissioner Lilia Garc铆a-Brower on Wednesday also pushed back against an audit, testifying that her office already is undertaking multiple reforms to address her agency鈥檚 backlogs.
The Labor Commissioner鈥檚 Office has struggled for years to address wage claims in a timely manner. Wage theft 鈥� the failure of employers to pay the minimum wage, overtime premiums, or provide meal and rest breaks 鈥� primarily affects low-wage workers who are often immigrants or people of color, studies show.
Each worker鈥檚 claims by law are supposed to be heard in 120 days and decided 15 days after that. But CalMatters, in its series, uncovered that between 2017 and 2021, the state averaged 505 days.
After that, back pay can take years to recover, and many who win their claims are . The backlog was exacerbated last year, when new wage theft claims hit a and wait times climbed past .
鈥淲hat is it going to take to get to 120 days? Is it additional measures to compel employers to participate, and if that鈥檚 the case, in which ways?鈥� asked Assemblymember , a Democrat from Chula Vista who chairs the legislative audit committee.
鈥淚 am willing to give an opportunity for those questions to be answered,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut I鈥檇 like to see detailed answers, not just 鈥榳e鈥檙e going to do better when we hire more people.鈥欌��
Alvarez held out the possibility that the committee could rescind their audit request before September if budget hearings satisfactorily address the issues the audit would target. The Labor Commissioner鈥檚 Office is seeking $12 million in the next fiscal year to hire 43 additional employees with the goal of reducing the time to hear a claim to 200 days.
The audit came at the request of State Sen. , a Walnut Creek Democrat, who agreed to the compromise to delay the audit until Sept. 1. The audit request put Glazer, a moderate Democrat, at odds with labor groups and workers鈥� advocates.
The California Labor Federation and several unions and worker centers wrote earlier in March that an audit would divert time and attention from an already understaffed agency.
The California Chamber of Commerce testified in favor of the audit. Ashley Hoffman, a lobbyist for the Chamber, told the committee it is important to the state鈥檚 employers that bad actors be held to account and that disputes between employees be resolved expediently, out of court.
In addition to wage claims, California workers can also file lawsuits against employers through California鈥檚 Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA), a 19-year-old law that gives workers the same powers as the state to sue employers and recover civil penalties on behalf of coworkers. If they win, the workers can get a quarter of the penalties while the rest goes to the state for labor enforcement.
In 2022 the Department of Industrial Relations, the agency that houses the Labor Commissioner鈥檚 Office, received 5,813 notices of new PAGA suits, according to state data.
The Chamber is that succeeded in getting a measure to repeal the private enforcement law on the 2024 ballot.
Hoffman told the committee that workers get more of their back wages when they go through the Labor Commissioner鈥檚 process instead of filing a lawsuit with a private attorney.
In her testimony Wednesday, Garc铆a-Brower said she is working to overhaul her office鈥檚 wage claims staff by recruiting recent graduates from the University of California, filling key managerial positions and implementing new pilot initiatives in certain offices, among other measures.
Garc铆a-Brower, an appointee of Gov. Gavin Newsom, is the former director of a group that helped the state investigate wage theft in the janitorial industry before she became labor commissioner and is considered an ally of the unions and worker advocates who opposed the audit.
The labor and worker groups advocated instead for increased funding for Garc铆a-Brower鈥檚 office, higher penalties for employers who violate labor law and an expedited hiring process for the Department of Industrial Relations. They also argued for boosting the use of against problem employers and expanding local officials鈥� abilities to sue businesses on behalf of workers to relieve pressure on the state.
Lorena Gonzalez, the former assembly member who heads the California Labor Federation, told CalMatters in an interview before the hearing that an audit would be a distraction.
鈥淓veryone knows there鈥檚 a problem, including the labor commissioner,鈥� Gonzalez Fletcher said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think an audit is going to tell us anything we don鈥檛 know already.鈥�
But at the hearing Garc铆a-Brower conceded that the issues in her office went beyond a staffing shortage.
Assemblymember , a Democrat from Ukiah, and a member of the legislative audit committee, said his office had considered proposing an audit of the Labor Commissioner鈥檚 wage claim issues.
He told Garc铆a-Brower that his office struggled to get data on wage claims from her office, and that some of his constituents had faced people who worked for her who 鈥渁re not always terribly friendly and very dismissive sometimes.鈥� That prompted Garc铆a-Brower to agree.
鈥淚 sat across six different labor commissioners, and most of them were dismissive,鈥� Garc铆a-Brower said, referring to her time as a labor activist. 鈥淪o this is a deep, systemic problem within the culture of this agency, which is why we鈥檙e digging down deep to ensure that people understand we are a public facing agency. We were created to serve the public.鈥�
Senator , a Democrat from Salinas who sits on the committee, said Garc铆a-Brower鈥檚 acknowledgement that the office鈥檚 problems went beyond staffing issues swayed him in favor of the audit.
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