{"id":756,"date":"2016-07-11T14:29:10","date_gmt":"2016-07-11T18:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www2.law.temple.edu\/ejc\/?p=756"},"modified":"2021-11-23T19:09:15","modified_gmt":"2021-11-23T19:09:15","slug":"words-practice-implementing-philadelphias-new-wage-theft-ordinance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/ejc\/2016\/07\/11\/words-practice-implementing-philadelphias-new-wage-theft-ordinance\/","title":{"rendered":"From words to practice: implementing Philadelphia’s new wage theft ordinance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Each week, hundreds of thousands of workers across Pennsylvania are paid less than they are owed, or are not paid at all. This\u00a0troubling fact\u00a0comes from a 2015 report<\/a>\u00a0from the Sheller Center, which also found that federal and state agencies lack sufficient\u00a0resources to enforce these workers’ rights.<\/p>\n

Could legislation at the local<\/em> level help fill the gap? Advocates for low-income workers thought so. Last year, citing the Sheller Center report and other data, they urged Philadelphia\u2019s City Council to take action. Council responded<\/a> by unanimously enacting an ordinance establishing penalties for wage theft and creating a new office of Wage Theft Coordinator.<\/p>\n

Passage of the ordinance was a big\u00a0step forward — but then came a host of questions about how to implement it in practice.\u00a0Social Justice Lawyering Clinic students Daniella Lees and Crystal Felix, working with Community Legal Services<\/a>, tackled those questions last spring. Their product: an extensive set of guidelines<\/a>\u00a0for the City and its new\u00a0Coordinator.<\/p>\n

As Ms. Lees and Ms. Felix recognized, enacting a law is one thing; making it work effectively for real people is another. \u201cThe most difficult task,\u201d Ms. Lees observes, \u201cwas figuring out how to make\u00a0the new ordinance accessible to and useful for victims of wage theft. This involved considering the needs of individuals with limited English proficiency, recommending a community outreach program, and proposing approaches such as conciliation conferences.\u201d The guidelines also address such issues as how the city should determine which complaints to accept, and what standards should be used in the adjudication process.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Each week, hundreds of thousands of workers across Pennsylvania are paid less than they are owed, or are not paid at all. This\u00a0troubling fact\u00a0comes from a 2015 report\u00a0from the Sheller Center, which also found that federal and state agencies lack sufficient\u00a0resources to enforce these workers’ rights. Could legislation at the local level help fill the … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"generate_page_header":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[16,21,23],"class_list":["post-756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-immigrants-rights","tag-rights-of-low-wage-workers","tag-social-justice-lawyering-clinic"],"yoast_head":"\nFrom words to practice: implementing Philadelphia's new wage theft ordinance - Elder Justice Consortium<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/law.temple.edu\/ejc\/2016\/07\/11\/words-practice-implementing-philadelphias-new-wage-theft-ordinance\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"From words to practice: implementing Philadelphia's new wage theft ordinance - Elder Justice Consortium\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Each week, hundreds of thousands of workers across Pennsylvania are paid less than they are owed, or are not paid at all. This\u00a0troubling fact\u00a0comes from a 2015 report\u00a0from the Sheller Center, which also found that federal and state agencies lack sufficient\u00a0resources to enforce these workers’ rights. Could legislation at the local level help fill the ... 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