By Kapish Kalita
OAKLAND, CA— Alameda County District Attorney District Attorney Pamela Price announced this week her office and the “U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) Wage and Hour Division District Director Francisco Ocampo signed a five-year Memorandum of Understanding to maximize the DAO’s enforcement of labor laws.”
The two agencies agreed to now “collaborate on outreach, education, law enforcement, information sharing, and training,” targeting wage theft.
Alameda Deputy DA Geralyn Busnardo said the wage theft “is a multi-billion-dollar business in the country,” and is a “global problem that leads to labor trafficking, and it’s impacting the most vulnerable classes of our society.”
According to U.S. Wage and Hour District Director Francisco Ocampo, “The MOU ensures we form a collaborative effort to prevent wage theft,” that helps “ensure workers are being paid properly.”
According to the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office, Price stated the MOU “is a huge opportunity for us to serve the residents of Alameda County,” adding, “We successfully applied for and received a major grant to fund our targeted effort to address labor law violators, and we are excited to start this work.”
Price said the District Attorney’s Office under her leadership is “fully committed and ready to protect workers’ rights and enforce the critical labor laws.”
The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office noted it “was awarded a $335,935 grant from the California Department of Industrial Relations, which went into effect on Aug. 1, 2024… (funds) to be used to develop and implement a wage theft program to prosecute labor law violators and serve as a deterrent for employers who engage in unlawful employment practices in the workplace.”
