Røe Isaksen (H) will punish “wage theft” with up to five years in prison – VG

– Today’s employees are severely punished if they are convicted of embezzlement or theft by the employer, while employers who steal employee wages in practice do not risk any criminal prosecution. We intend to do something about it, says Isaksen.

Say they are now sending one consultation proposals on amendments to the Labor Environment Law, which increase the maximum penalty from three to five years in prison for wage theft.

– What is wage theft?

– There is a wide range where the common denominator is that the employer deliberately enriches himself with the employee’s salary or other remuneration. In many cases, no salary is paid or the salary is too low relative to what is derived from the law or the agreement.

The bill mentions farmers in particular, as VG has revealed since last summer; how workers in Asian countries have been exploited.

– It is particularly bad that low-income workers in Asia and Eastern Europe are exploited. They don’t know the language and know little about Norwegian working conditions, says Isaksen.

He says that it is difficult with a powerful boss, any intermediary, who exploits the weak resource.

– In many cases, employees do not feel that the boss has taken anything from them. The problem is that there is no agreed wage, or as VG has shown, that farmers pay much less than the minimum wage, says Isaksen.

– Strawberry pickers are used

He says that this win-lose-lose situation must be reversed.

– Strawberry pickers are exploited and lose a lot to scrap employers who take away the wages they are entitled to. We want a serious work life. It is the serious companies that lose when dishonest competitors discharge wages; there is competition on different terms.

– We will take those who win with wage theft and make sure that workers and competition win with our austerity measures, says Isaksen.

The minimum wage has been introduced today in nine areas in Norway, in so-called widespread industries, which are struggling with wage dumping. You can read the nine sectors here:

– In those areas where there is no minimum wage, it is more difficult to determine if wages are too low, he says.

Isaksen also presents two other proposals:

– For the first time, we will give the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority the right to order the employer to pay the wages, if the wrong wages have been given, this also applies in time. They are also given the opportunity to pay a coercive fee.

End of cash payment

And then the cash payments will be over.

– We also propose to introduce cash-free salaries, by ordering that salaries are paid mainly to a bank account. There are some exceptions for people who for various reasons do not have a bank account, but they are few. With this, Norway is at the forefront of Europe in the fight against undeclared work and work-related crime, says Isaksen.

The consultation proposal establishes that a common procedure is to use straw men who act externally as responsible for the business, for example, when starting a new business after bankruptcy or when establishing a legal facade.

– Work-related crimes have many faces and many methods. We will prioritize the fight against work-related crime in 2021.

Controversial case

The bankruptcy of Fagarbeideren AS has sparked outrage; The Bulgarian workers were transported to Norway, housed and received some money. They worked for several months, but were not paid.

– That provoked strong reactions when the police did not choose to prioritize the investigation of it?

– It is not the politicians who must decide which cases are to be processed. We will continue to prioritize the fight against workplace crime in 2021. The Attorney General himself has said that it is good that politicians are raising the expectations of investigation, says Isaksen, who will now be on paper until January.

– It was important for me to make this audience known before going through the folder. Fighting workplace crime is important, he says and refers to a key wording in the consultation note:

“The most serious forms of wage theft are generally perpetrated against the weakest in the labor market and therefore they will also have difficulties in safeguarding their rights against
employer”.

He adds:

– I think the first person I heard who used the term wage theft was the leader Mette Nord in the union. It’s a good expression, says Isaksen.

– I am happy

Thanks to the leader Lars Mamen at Fair Play Oslo and surroundings.

– I am glad that the concept of wage theft is incorporated into the law. That clears the matter up. Where there is a thief who steals a salary, there is also a medicine man who profits from the crime. And “the heel is no better than the thief”, as they say in the town, says Mamen.

Fair Play is an organization of employers and employees that works against crime in working life.