State and Local Enforcement Project
District Attorneys and Other Prosecutors
Reports
- Terri Gerstein, How district attorneys and state attorneys general are fighting workplace abuses, Economic Policy Institute and Harvard Labor and Worklife Program, May 17, 2021.
- Protecting Workers: Wage Theft Enforcement for the Local Prosecutor Issued by the Institute for Innovation in Prosecution at John Jay College, July 2022.
- Preventing Death and Injury on the Job: The Criminal Justice Alternative in State Law, Center for Progressive Reform, March 2016.
Webinars
- Prosecutions of wage theft and other employer crimes, webinar hosted by Economic Policy Institute, May 18, 2021, featuring Boulder County (CO) DA Michael Dougherty and Travis County (TX) DA Jose Garza, among other speakers.
- Video recording of Economic Justice panel webinar hosted by Travis County DA’s office (Austin TX), September 8, 2021
- Criminal Enforcement of Environmental Violations 3: Workplace Safety Prosecutions, webinar hosted by NYU State Energy & Environmental Impact Center, September 12, 2022.
Law Review Articles
- Anthony Damelio,Making Wage Theft Costly: District Attorneys and Attorneys General Enforcing Wage and Hour Law, 49 Fordham Urb. L.J. 109 (2021).
- Terri Gerstein, State and Local Workers’ Rights Innovations: New Players, New Laws, New Methods of Enforcement, 65 St. Louis U. L.J. 45 (2021) (see pp. 63-71 regarding prosecutors)
- Ben Levin, Wage Theft Criminalization, 54 U.C. DAVIS L. REV. 1429 (2021) (opposing).
- César F. Rosado Marzán, Wage Theft as Crime: An Institutional View (March 21, 2020). 20 Journal of Law & Society 300 (2020).
- Annie Smith, The Underprosecution of Labor Trafficking, 72 S.C. L Rev. 477 (2020).
Op-eds on criminal prosecution of wage theft
- Diana Florence, Defending workers is now life-and-death: What essential employees need in the coronavirus crisis, New York Daily News, April 5, 2020.
- Terri Gerstein, Stealing From Workers is a Crime. Why Don’t More Prosecutors See It That Way?, The Nation, May 24, 2018.
- Terri Gerstein, More states should follow new Colorado policy on wage theft, The Hill, May 30, 2019.
- Lucy Lang, Prosecutors should protect workers from white collar crime, City & State New York, April 14, 2020.
- Nathan Newman, Progressive Policing Requires a Well-Funded War on Corporate Crime, The American Prospect, February 2, 2021.
Select news coverage about the trend of prosecutors bringing wage theft and other worker exploitation cases
- Christina Bravo, DA Announces Dedicated Unit to Prosecute Workplace Crimes, NBC San Diego, Feb. 22, 2021.
- Ben Christoper, Cracking Down on Wage Theft, Cal Matters, October 24, 2022.
- Jamie Goldberg, Multnomah County district attorney moves to prosecute employers who intentionally cheat workers out of pay, The Oregonian, April 29, 2022.
- Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt discussing his office’s involvement in fighting wage theft and protecting workers, April 2023.
- Max Nesterak, Commerce Fraud Bureau to get new powers to investigate wage theft, other financial crimes, Minnesota Reformer, May 25, 2022.
- NBC New York Staff, Manhattan DA Unveils New Unit to Combat Wage Theft, Protect NYC Workers, NBC New York, February 16, 2023.
- Chris Opfer, Prosecutors Treating ‘Wage Theft’ as a Crime in These States, Bloomberg Law, June 26, 2018.
- Daniela Porat, A Growing Trend: Treating Wage Theft As A Criminal Offense, Law 360, September 23, 2021.
- Tania Savayan, Westchester DA Mimi Rocah creates new role to fight wage theft, lohud.com, April 19, 2023.
- Radmilla Suleymanova, Bad bosses: US prosecutors crack down on labour violations, Aljazeera, May 18, 2021.
- Micaela A. Watts, DA Mulroy’s office to revamp unit that focuses on worker exploitation in Shelby County, Memphis Commercial Appeal, April 18, 2023.
OnLabor Blog posts regarding criminalization of wage theft (pro and con)
- Ben Levin, Rethinking Wage Theft Criminalization, April 13, 2018 (con).
- Terri Gerstein and David Seligman, A Response to “Rethinking Wage Theft Criminalization,” April 20, 2018 (pro).
- Ben Levin, Prosecutorial Power, Prisons, and the Problem with Wage Theft Criminalization: A Reply, April 30, 2018 (con).
- Michael Migiel-Schwartz, Why District Attorneys Should Take Up Wage Theft Criminalization, February 22, 2021 (pro).