New York labor advocates are making a last-minute push in Albany to pass a bill that they say will hold corrupt employers accountable for labor law violations and increase enforcement around wage theft.

“The problem is that we simply do not have enough people within the Department of Labor to investigate [these issues],” Josh Pomeranz, director of operations for Teamsters Local 804, told Capital Tonight. “We have approximately 146 investigators for the entire state.”

Because enforcement capacity is so low, claims can take years to be investigated, advocates say. 

To remedy the situation, the “Empowering People in Rights Enforcement Worker Protection Act” (Empire Act) would allow individuals, unionized or not, to file a claim with the Department of Labor. The DOL will then have 60 days to take up the claim. If the department does not, the worker would then have the ability to pursue the claim on behalf of the state.

There are critics of the bill.

According to Pomeranz, $3 billion in wages are stolen annually in New York state.