Construction workers exploited by Colorado's underground economy want to add bite to wage theft law

In Colorado’s underground economy, where cash flows under the table and crews are lured by the promise of good wages and free housing, workers are getting ripped off.

Especially construction workers who don’t speak English or aren’t living here legally.

Union officials have uncovered allegations of wage theft from subcontracted workers who restored Colorado Mills Mall in Lakewood after it was pummeled by a hailstorm in 2017. From construction workers at TopGolf in Thornton. The Monarch Casino in Blackhawk. SkyHouse Denver Apartments. And the Emerson Place Apartments near downtown Denver, where a construction fire killed two workers in 2018.

That’s just a few of the well-known projects mentioned at the Capitol this session as legislators attempt to strengthen law regarding wage theft and human trafficking. Formal complaints of wage theft to the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment number up to 4,300 per year.

Read more: https://coloradosun.com/2019/04/25/colorado-wage-theft-law-underground-economy/