Build Community-Government Partnerships to Uphold Labor Laws
We’re working to eliminate wage theft and strengthen worker protections by fostering partnerships between worker organizations.
Strategic Enforcement Partnership Models
In California, workers are building power by holding abusive employers accountable for wage theft
The California Strategic Enforcement Partnership (CSEP) was formed in 2016 to eliminate wage theft and improve working conditions for workers in eight industries:
- Agriculture
- Car washes
- Construction
- Garment manufacturing
- Janitorial
- Residential care
- Restaurants
- Warehouses
The partnership is a collaboration between the California Labor Commissioner’s Office, 16 workers’ rights and legal advocacy organizations, and NELP.
CSEP aims to set a precedent in California and the rest of the nation by:
- Proactively and strategically addressing wage theft in eight targeted industries;
- Engaging a groundswell of workers to exercise their rights under the law; and
- Helping to focus the state’s investigative resources on those eight industries where we know there are high rates of violations.
The workers organizing transformed their workplace from one where they were experiencing wage theft and feeling a lack of respect. They turned an abusive restaurant environment to a model workplace.
Shaw San Liu, Chinese Progressive Association
Related Resources
How California Can Lead on Retaliation Reforms to Dismantle Workplace Inequality
Our report calls on California lawmakers to establish a retaliation fund and adopt “just cause” job protections to protect workers from arbitrary and unfair firings.
Wage Theft Stories: Fighting Wage Theft in the Golden State
Over the course of two years, journalist Sarah Jackson traveled California interviewing workers, worker center staff, scholars, and policy leaders about wage theft.
Unpaid Wages: A Waiting Game
An eight-part series by Cal Matters that examines whether California’s wage theft laws are effectively being enforced, and their impact on workers and their bosses.
