STATE HOUSE — As workers gathered outside the State House Thursday to describe personal experiences with wage theft, the state auditor and staff from the attorney general's office joined them to show support for legislation backers say would step up employer accountability and protect worker rights.
A bill before the Senate Ways and Means (S 2207) would authorize stop work orders at businesses that violate wage laws, with worker wages guaranteed for the first ten days of lost work due to the order. It would also give the attorney general power to file civil actions for injunctive relief on behalf of workers.
STATE HOUSE — Senate President Stanley Rosenberg, describing sharply downgraded tax revenue estimates as "very sobering," predicted the changes will lead to "painful" spending cuts or level funding for programs that lawmakers feel strongly about supporting.
"Tax revenues have gone soft and we just have to deal with it and it's going to be very, very, very painful," Rosenberg said during an interview on WGBH's Boston Public Radio Thursday afternoon.
