DENVER — The Denver City Council unanimously passed several ordinances during its meeting Monday night, including implementing a new wage theft crime, eliminating mandatory STI testing for sex worker arrests, requiring special business licenses for massage parlors and reelecting council leadership.
The first ordinance creates a new wage theft crime to fill gaps in Denver’s existing laws.
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Wage theft is when an employee is denied the wages or benefits they are rightfully owed, like when employers fail to pay overtime, force employees to work off the clock, violate minimum wage laws or do not pay employees at all.
Minimum wage workers who are victims of wage theft lose an average of $64 per week, according to the Economic Policy Institute. In Colorado alone, wage theft results in the loss of up to $750 million from workers per year.
> Read the full story at The Denver Gazzette
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