Cincinnati first Ohio city to pass wage theft ordinance

Cincinnati became the first city in Ohio to pass an ordinance to improve enforcement of existing wage laws.

Members of city council voted 7-2 Wednesday to pass the ordinance. Under the measure, if the city or another agency determines a company has committed wage theft, city officials would be able to have the money returned and the company would be barred from doing business with the city.

Against it: Council’s two Republican members, Amy Murray and Charlie Winburn. They wanted the ordinance to apply only to people working legally. Councilman David Mann, who authored the ordinance, refused to entertain Murray’s amendment.

“This is the exact same kind of attack on undocumented workers as Donald Trump,” said Councilman Chris Seelbach. “Workers deserve to be treated equally under the law.”

Councilman Wendell Young praised Mann for bringing the issue to Council.

“What (Mann) has done is not only laudable, but long overdue,” Young said. “When we make people rich we need to be sure that we not be culpable in helping them exploit people.”

Supporters, many with green arm armbands, packed council chambers in support of the law.

Wage theft occurs when employer refusing to pay workers money that they are owed by withholding pay, tips or overtime.

Under particularly egregious circumstances, according to Mann, a company could be fined by the city.

"Cincinnati’s new ordinance is a model for all Ohio cities and sends a message that economic development projects will protect the dignity of wage earners," said Brennan Grayson, director of the Interfaith Workers Center in Downtown Cincinnati.

A 2009 study by the National Employment Law Project (NELP) of nearly 4,500 low-wage workers found that more than 60 percent had been shorted by their employer each week, equivalent to $2,634 per year in unpaid wages. Analysts applying this study to Cincinnati estimate that low-wage workers lose $52 million per year to wage theft.

Low wage and immigrant workers are victims of wage theft when they are paid less than the minimum wage, are shorted hours, forced to work off the clock, are not paid overtime or not paid at all.  These are pervasive practices across many industries.  

Since 2008 the number of state wage investigators has dropped from 15 to 5.  The closest investigator to Hamilton County is located in Dayton, Ohio.