Severe understaffing, slow hiring, poor training and inefficient bureaucracy combine to slow California’s investigations of wage theft claims, the state auditor’s office concluded Wednesday.
The result, according to the audit of the state Labor Commissioner’s Office, is a backlog of 47,000 claims that take six times longer to resolve than the four months set in state law.
Workers are left waiting years for money they claim they are owed when their employers fail to pay the minimum wage, overtime premiums or legally required break times. Then, those who need the office’s help to collect on their back pay only get all their money back 12% of the time.
The audit confirms the findings of several recent news reports on the problem, including a 2022 CalMatters series detailing long waits and low payouts for workers making claims.