For years, California has struggled to address a mounting backlog of workers claiming labor law violations, even as it collected millions of dollars from employers each year for enforcement. Now, a judge’s order may force the state to solve the problem.
The state’s Labor Commissioner’s Office faces a lawsuit this year from workers who say the office is failing to address the backlog.
The suit concerns the wage claim system — in which workers alleging that they were paid less than the minimum wage, denied meal and rest breaks or otherwise owed wages by their bosses — can submit a claim to the state’s labor regulators. The wage claim system was originally intended to be an easy way for low-wage workers to get a quick, state-run hearing without having to slog through the courts. If a state hearing officer decides in the worker’s favor, employers could be ordered to pay up.
State law requires the Labor Commissioner’s Office to resolve cases within about four months. But in recent years, workers have waited years before hearing back from the office.
In 2023, after CalMatters and other news outlets documented long waits and low payouts for workers claiming wage theft, lawmakers ordered an audit. The 2024 audit blamed understaffing and found a backlog of 47,000 claims and wait times of well over six times the legal limit.
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