Enforcement of State Minimum
Wage and Overtime Laws: Resources, Procedures, and Outcomes
Abstract
By
Irene Lurie
Recent studies showing limited enforcement of wage and hour laws in
low-wage industries have focused primarily on the efforts of the federal
government. Far less attention has been paid to understanding and comparing
the resources and procedures of the state agencies enforcing their own
minimum wage and overtime laws. To learn more about the states' enforcement
efforts, this study interviewed the administrators of the responsible
agencies in a sample of 18 states. It asked about staff resources, enforcement
procedures, and what the laws become in practice as measured by the
volume of enforcement activity and the outcomes of these activities.
It found that many states have authority to protect low-wage workers
that is equal to, and in some states even greater than, federal authority.
State labor laws fill gaps in coverage left by federal law and some
raise the minimum wage above the federal level. It is state law that
simply requires employers to pay their employees on a regular basis.
Almost half the state agencies have greater administrative authority
to recover unpaid wages, using procedures that could serve as models
for the federal agency. But while a number of states were aggressive
in pursuing egregious violators, the majority enforced the law passively
in response to workers' complaints and a few did not enforce the law
at all. States' efforts to implement their minimum wage, overtime and
wage payment laws varied greatly, more than the laws themselves. Like
the federal government, the state agencies responsible for enforcing
labor laws struggled with insufficient staff. But while their current
capacity to enforce their laws is constrained by a lack of resources,
their potential authority to protect low-wage workers is powerful and
deserves greater attention by analysts and policymakers.