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1. What is Wage Theft?

Wage theft is the denial of wages or employee benefits that are rightfully owed to an employee. Wage theft can be failure to pay overtime, minimum wage violations, employee misclassification, illegal deductions in pay, working off the clock, or not being paid at all. Workers, communities, responsible businesses and taxpayers are all negatively affected by wage theft.

2. What does the new ordinance do?

The ordinance gives the City authority to revoke or suspend the business license of any employer who refuses to pay their final court order or administrative action when found by a Local, State or Federal agency in violation of wage or hour laws. Without a business license, an employer would effectively be unable to operate in the City of Milpitas.

3. What is a final court order or administrative action?

A final court order or administrative action means a government agency has determined the business violated federal, state and/or local wage and hour laws, there is no pending appeal to this decision and the time for filing an appeal has passed and no appeal was filed.

4. What businesses are affected by this ordinance?

All businesses in the City of Milpitas which are required to have a business license are subject to the new wage theft ordinance.

5. Who do I contact if I am an employee trying to enforce a final court order or administrative action?

We encourage employees who are having difficulty enforcing a final court order or administrative action to contact the City of Milpitas. Staff will work with the employee and business owners to try and satisfy the judgment.

• City of Milpitas Economic Development Division
  Email City of Milpitas Economic Development Divison
  Phone: 408-586-3058

6. Will the City automatically revoke the business license of an employer that has a Wage Theft violation?

No, the goal of the City is not to revoke business licenses but to help employees get paid. The City will make every effort to ensure wage theft compliance before moving forward with business license revocation, including setting up a payment plan to satisfy the judgment.

For more information contact the City of Milpitas at 408-586-3058 or email the Economic Development Division with any questions.