A new analysis from the Colorado Fiscal Institute calculates that workers in our state are deprived of an estimated $749.5 million per year in wages they are legally owed.

Though that figure is less than 1 percent of all wages earned by Coloradans in a given year, it represents a huge amount of money for mostly low-income workers who now have little recourse when deprived of lawfully earned wages.

CFI’s analysis comes as the Senate Judiciary Committee is set to take up SB 5 on Wednesday. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Jesse Ulibarri and Rep. Jonathan Singer, strengthens worker rights to pursue wage claims and steps up enforcement on the relatively small number of employers who do not follow the rules.

More than a half million Colorado workers, the greatest number in the construction and food service industries, are affected every year by nonpayment of wages, which occurs when employers either don’t pay owed wages, underpay what’s owed, charge illegal deductions to workers, misclassify workers as supervisors or independent contractors or improperly share their tips.

As harmful as non-payment of wages is on workers, there is a ripple effect for the entire state that comes in the form of lost tax revenue — a sum that approaches $50 million in lost state sales and income taxes alone, revenue that is used to pay for vital services like schools and colleges.

Read the analysis here: 

Wage Nonpayment in Colorado Final