Many at Havurah appreciate the work Nancy Becker does on our behalf as Havurah’s representative to the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland. Havurah member Hank Kaplan is also an “at large” member of the council.

A few years ago, at the urging of Havurah member Bob Brown, the JCRC joined the Oregon Coalition Against Wage Theft, which is comprised of other faith-based organizations and labor unions. As a labor lawyer, Hank took action himself, both in Oregon and nationally through the JCRC’s national umbrella agency, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA).

For the past two legislative sessions, as part of the JCRC's partnership with the Oregon Wage Theft Coalition, Hank has advocated for the passage of wage theft legislation in Salem. He has spoken to many State senators and representatives and given testimony before House and Senate committees. Despite significant resistance from the business lobbies, headway has been made.

In addition, realizing that the JCPA had no advocacy position on wage theft, Hank drafted a resolution, lined up other chapters and organizations that are part of the JCPA to co-sponsor it, worked through some revisions with them, then presented the resolution at the national conference of the JCPA this year in Cleveland. It passed overwhelmingly.

The resolution explains that wage theft not only violates Jewish law, but should be considered a form of property crime. And crime can be deterred by increasing the likelihood of getting caught and raising the cost to the employers who violate the law. That requires more funding for enforcement agencies so the agencies can do the following: impose penalty wages, not just reimbursement of what is owed; require employers to issue detailed pay stubs, making it less difficult to prove retaliation claims; tighten the legal standards for independent contractors; shift attorney fees to employers found to have violated the law; and create an effective lien mechanism for collecting on judgments. These and other remedies are part of the attached resolution.

Mazel tov to Hank Kaplan for advocating for wage theft legislation in Salem and for ensuring that the JCPA will advocate for wage theft legislation on a national level.