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Finance Department

Wage Theft

Wage theft, including the non-payment or underpayment of earned wages owed by employers, is a practice typically inflicted on the weakest and poorest segments of our society. Because those subjected to wage theft are generally without any adequate remedy to redress the injury suffered at the hands of unscrupulous employers, the City adopted an ordinance to sanction City contractors and subcontractors who engage in wage theft. Pursuant to that ordinance, City contractors and subcontractors who have engaged in wage theft are entered into this Wage Theft Database and are ineligible for City business opportunities.

This Wage Theft Database contains employers located or operating within the Houston, Sugarland, Baytown metropolitan statistical area that have been:

  1. Convicted of a criminal offense under Section 61.019, Texas Labor Code or Section 31.04 (a)(4), Texas Penal Code, for engaging in wage theft;
  2. Assessed an administrative penalty under Section 61.053, Texas Labor Code and such order has not been satisfied before becoming final and non-appealable; or
  3. Adjudicated by a court of competent jurisdiction as having engaged in wage theft and such judgment has not been satisfied before becoming final and non-appealable.

    4. The information contained in this Wage Theft Database was provided by the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) and is updated quarterly. If you feel you or your business should not be in this database, please contact the TWC Labor Law Unit at 512-475-2670.