On April 30, 2014, California Labor Commissioner Julie Su launched a new website called Wage Theft Is a Crime. The website aims to educate workers in low-wage industries such as agriculture, hospitality, and construction about their rights as workers.

The website explains workers’ rights, without legal jargon, on the issues of the minimum wage, overtime compensation, meal and rest breaks, the prevailing wage on public works, pay notices, paydays, paystubs, bounced paychecks, deductions, reimbursements, reporting time pay, final wages, and retaliation. The site also explains how to gather facts when planning to report a problem to the Labor Commissioner’s office and how to file complaints, such as wage claims and labor law violations. The California Department of Industrial Relations also launched a Spanish-language version of the website called Robo de Sueldo es un Crimen.

Note: This article was published in the May 2014 issue of the California eAuthority.