MN SF1816

Requires employees to provide a written demand for payment to their employer at least ten days before the Department of Labor and Industry commissioner can investigate wage claims or complaints.

Establishes a "labor trafficking and wage theft free" workplace recognition program within the Department of Labor and Industry, with participating employers required to provide wage and hour information to employees, offer labor trafficking training, and allow workplace inspections.

Defines wage theft as an employer failing to pay earned wages, causing false wage receipts, demanding wage rebates, misrepresenting wages paid, or retaliating against employees for asserting wage rights; violation is a misdemeanor, with repeat violations being a gross misdemeanor, effective August 1, 2019.

Appropriates $350,000 for fiscal years 2020 and 2021 to fund grants to nonprofit organizations for developing statewide law enforcement protocols, training prosecutors and law enforcement on labor trafficking identification and intervention, and disseminating investigative best practices.

Appropriates funding for fiscal years 2020 and 2021 to the Department of Labor and Industry to address wage theft, with at least a specified percentage directed to community-based groups for outreach, education, and technical assistance.