The CTU’s submission on the ‘Crimes (Theft by Employer) Amendment Bill’ stresses the need for employers who steal from their workers to be held criminally liable for their actions in the same way that workers who steal from their bosses often are. The right of working people to have their property rights recognised, and protected by criminal law, is just as important as the rights of bosses.
Currently, workers who suffer theft of their wages or minimum entitlements only have civil remedies available to them. Workers must spend their own money to argue their case in the court or the Authority, a cost that is often too high for many and cases of ‘theft by employer’ go unpunished and unresolved.
The CTU says ‘theft is theft’, it is time the legal system recognises that ‘theft by employer’ is every bit as serious and criminal as any other type of theft.