Direct deposit legislation prompts discussion on wage theft

April 2, 2015

Members of an Iowa Senate subcommittee on Tuesday considered House File 286, which removes the possibility for employees to receive their wages via paycheck upon written request and only allows direct deposit. The bill already passed the House with a party line vote. The Senate subcommittee took the opportunity to provide a strike after amendment that is a mix of the original House bill that ABI supported and previous versions of the wage payment language opposed by ABI and passed by the Iowa Senate. Sen. Bill Dotzler, D-Waterloo, chaired the subcommittee and told attendees of the meeting that the bill is a watered down version of the bill he wants related to “wage theft”. ABI’s position continues to be the legislature should address the enforcement of the code rather than proposing new language that does not get to the root of the problem. The Senate Labor Committee passed the amendment on a party line vote on Thursday. If you would like additional information, please contact Nicole