As Introduced

128th General Assembly
Regular Session
2009-2010
S. C. R. No. 22


Senator Morano 

Cosponsors: Senators Cafaro, Miller, D., Turner, Strahorn, Schiavoni, Miller, R., Fedor, Smith, Sawyer 

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
To urge the Congress of the United States to enact 1
House Resolution 3303, the Wage Theft Prevention 2
Act.3


BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF OHIO
(THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING):

       WHEREAS, Wage theft is a serious problem in this country and 4
has affected those employees who can least afford to lose their 5
pay and, given these difficult economic times, the nation must 6
ensure that hard-working Americans earn the compensation to which 7
they are entitled and ensure that legitimate complaints of wage 8
theft are given a thorough investigation; and9

       WHEREAS, The Wage Theft Prevention Act amends the 10
Portal-to-Portal Act of 1947 to toll the statute of limitations 11
for bringing a cause of action for unpaid minimum wages, unpaid 12
overtime compensation, or liquidated damages under the Fair Labor 13
Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. 201 et seq., the Walsh-Healey Act, 41 14
U.S.C. 35 et seq., or the Bacon-Davis Act, 40 U.S.C. 376a et seq., 15
starting from the time the United States Secretary of Labor 16
notifies an employer of the initiation of an investigation 17
regarding a cause of action under those laws until that employer 18
is notified of the conclusion of the investigation; and19

       WHEREAS, An undercover investigation by the United States 20
Government Accountability Office found that complaint intake, 21
complaint resolution, and investigation processes of the Division 22
of Wage and Hour within the United States Department of Labor were 23
ineffective and discouraged workers from lodging wage theft 24
complaints; and25

       WHEREAS, For example, in several of the Division's regional 26
offices, staff were directed to record only successful complaint 27
resolutions in the staff's database, making the Wage and Hour 28
Division appear better at resolving wage and hour complaints than 29
the Division actually is, and in addition, the Government 30
Accountability Office found that, because of the lack of 31
resources and staff, investigations on wage theft and child labor 32
violations were frequently delayed by months or years; and33

       WHEREAS, The ineffectiveness of the Wage and Hour Division's 34
investigations and procedures leaves thousands of low-wage workers 35
vulnerable to wage theft, and because of the Wage and Hour 36
Division's delays, an employee's right to file a lawsuit could be 37
jeopardized; now therefore be it38

       RESOLVED, That the General Assembly of the State of Ohio 39
urges the Congress of the United States to enact House Resolution 40
3303, the Wage Theft Prevention Act, to allow employees to bring 41
an action for wage theft and to allow the Division of Wage and 42
Hour to conduct an investigation to assist low-income employees in 43
need; therefore be it further44

       RESOLVED, That the Clerk of the Senate transmit duly 45
authenticated copies of this resolution to the President of the 46
United States, the Speaker and Clerk of the United States House of 47
Representatives, the President Pro Tempore and the Secretary of 48
the United States Senate, the members of the Ohio Congressional 49
delegation, the United States Secretary of Labor, the Governor of 50
the State of Ohio, and the news media of Ohio.51