The House and Senate has unanimously passed Senate Bill 27, which increases the amount of time a person has to file a claim or lawsuit for recovery of unpaid wages.
Currently, the time to file, or statute of limitations, is 1 year from the time a person discovers that their wages were not paid.
Under this bill, the time will be increased to 2 years, making it consistent with the statute of limitations under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.
Many employees who are terminated spend the first period of unemployment attempting to secure other employment. After this focus on finding employment ends, 1 year may have passed or be about to pass, preventing employees who are owed wages from a previous employer from seeking legal redress.
The bill now goes to the Governor for his signature.
| Senate Bill 27 – Increasing the time allowed to file a claim for unpaid wages | Currrent Status – Senate passed 20-0-1. House Passed 41-0. |
| House Sponsors – Osienski, Heffernan, Morrison, Williams, Griffith, Lambert | Senate Sponsors – Sturgeon, Walsh, Hansen, Lockman, McBride, Paradee, Townsend |
| House Yes Votes – Baumbach Bolden Bush Carson Chukwuocha Cooke Dorsey-Walker Griffith Harris Heffernan Johnson Lambert Longhurst Lynn Matthews Minor-Brown Moore Morrison Neal Osienski Parker-Selby Phillips Romer Schwartzkopf Williams Wilson-Anton // Briggs King Collins Dukes Gray Hensley Hilovsky Morris Postles Ramone Short Shupe Smith Spiegelman Vanderwende Yearick | Senate Yes Votes – Brown Gay Hansen Hoffner Huxtable Lockman Mantzavinos McBride Paradee Poore Sokola Sturgeon Townsend Walsh // Buckson Hocker Lawson Pettyjohn Richardon Wilson |
| House No Votes – None | Senate No Votes – None |
| House Absents or Not Voting – None | Senate Absent or Not Voting – Pinkney |
Unanimous! Republicans finally find a working class issue to get behind.