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COLORADO WORKERS GET MORE POWER AGAINST WAGE THEFT 

After two failed attempts since 2012, a new law protecting Colorado workers against wage theft is finally on the books.

The Wage Protection Act, which went into effect on Jan. 1, allows the state to fine employers who withhold payment to their staff. According to the bill’s lead sponsor, Rep. Jonathan Singer (D–Longmont), this includes withholding a final paycheck, failing to pay overtime, paying workers less than minimum wage, forcing employees to work off the clock, garnishing tips from restaurant workers, or incomplete payment for labor performed.

Penalties can be up to 125 percent of unpaid wages under $7,500 and 50 percent of unpaid wages over $7,500. Proof that an employer intentionally withheld wages will result in an additional 50 percent penalty.

Previously, the Colorado Department of Labor offered mediation, but when that failed, workers were left to hire an attorney or file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor, who, according to Singer, has 1,000 investigators for 7 million workplaces nationwide.

Through the new law, the Colorado Department of Labor now has the authority to investigate wage theft. 

“What we have now is a fast track process where you get an answer, yes or no, in 90 days or less, without hiring an attorney, by going to someone who has everybody’s best interest at heart through mediation, investigation and ultimately adjudication,” Singer says.

While many business groups that had previously thwarted attempts to criminalize wage theft in Colorado remained neutral about the newest iteration of the legislation, the Colorado Restaurant Association and the National Federation of Independent Businesses remained in opposition of the bill.

If you believe you’ve had wages stolen, visit the state Department of Labor website at www.coloradolaborlaw.gov, or call 303-318-8441.

GARDNER MOVES FAST ON NATURAL GAS EXPORT BILL 

In other legislative news, Colorado’s newest senator, Republican Cory Gardner, showed where his priorities lie within hours of being sworn in on Jan. 6, introducing a bill that will speed up the approval of liquefied natural gas exports to countries without free trade agreements with the U.S.

The “LNG Permitting Certainty and Transparency Act” requires the Secretary of Energy to make a decision on any natural gas export application within 45 days of a completed environmental review.

“Colorado is at the center of the American energy revolution,” Gardner said in a press release issued in the afternoon of Tuesday, Jan. 6 — just hours after Vice President Joe Biden swore him into office. “The natural gas industry helps power our state’s economy and provides thousands of jobs from the Western Slope to the Eastern Plains and beyond.”

Opponents of the law say talk of jobs and American energy independence distract from the real intent of the law.

“Senator Gardener has been clear ever since he was a representative and [while] campaigning for his now senate seat that he was interested in trying to put more wells next to homes and schools in Colorado so that fracked gas and oil could be shipped to China and India and Europe,” says Sam Schabacker, western region director with Food & Water Watch.

In May of last year, a report by the Department of Energy unintentionally showed that exporting natural gas to Asia would be exponentially worse for the environment than building another coal-fired plant in China.

Gardner’s office did not respond to requests for comment by press time.

THERE WERE HOW MANY NATURAL GAS SPILLS IN COLORADO LAST YEAR?

As if in response to Gardner’s quick move on natural gas exports, the Center for Western Priorities released data on Jan. 13 showing that oil and gas operations were responsible for 712 natural gas-related chemical spills in Colorado throughout 2014, an average of two spills per day.

This is the third year that the Center for Western Priorities has tracked oil and gas spills in the state, using publicly available data to compile their Toxic Release Tracker.

“The risk of spills is one of the major ways that residents in the oil patch bear a disproportionate burden from the state’s energy boom,” Greg Zimmerman, policy director at the Center for Western Priorities, said in a press release. “It’s precisely why they deserve a say in how and where development takes place.”

Of those 712 spills, 11 percent resulted in water contamination; 203 occurred within 1,500 feet of a building, such as a school or home; 51 spills contained more than 210 gallons of oil; and five operators were responsible for the majority of spills: Noble Energy, Kerr McGee, WPX Energy, Pioneer Natural Resources and Bonanza Creek.

According to research from the Center for Western Priorities, oil and gas companies reported 495 spills in 2013 and 402 spills in 2012. They attribute the spike in spills from oil and gas operations in Colorado to a lower spill reporting threshold enacted in 2013 and to increased oil and gas activity.

The release of the spill data is well timed: Governor Hickenlooper’s Oil and Gas Task Force holds its final public meeting in Greeley on Jan. 15.

Weld County, where Greeley is located, had the most spills of any county in the state at 346.

IMMIGRANT SANCTUARY SEEKER DENIED ACTION 

Arturo Hernandez Garcia, whose exile and sanctuary in a Denver church Boulder Weekly chronicled [“American exile,” Oct. 30], will not get his case reopened by Immigration officials and now awaits deportation.

Garcia was arrested after a work conflict in 2010, fined tens of thousands of dollars, but ultimately was not convicted of any crime. That was enough, however, for local Immigration officials to call for his deportation. When the day came to be deported, Oct. 21, Garcia took sanctuary in the basement of the First Unitarian Society of Denver and has lived there since, unable to leave or work for fear of being apprehended by the authorities and deported.

After hearing of the decision, the North Denver Sanctuary Coalition, who has helped him with his case and supplied him with necessities while in sanctuary, held a rally on Wednesday, Jan. 14 to bring together the faith communities, Arturo’s family, other immigrant families and supporters to call for change.

Respond: letters@boulderweekly.com