San Mateo County has launched a new county office to help enforce laws against wage theft, particularly among vulnerable employees who work in the agriculture, hospitality, construction, and domestic work sectors.
The Office of Labor Standards and Enforcement, or OLSE, is a joint initiative of the County Executive's Office, County Attorney's Office and District Attorney's Office. It will engage in outreach to businesses and workers about their rights to a minimum wage and investigate and prosecute employers who underpay their workers.
The office was created to take advantage of new authority granted by a state law passed in 2024, Assembly Bill 594. It gives local prosecutors the power to enforce labor laws that only regulators at the state level previously had.
The OLSE was established by a unanimous vote by the Board of Supervisors in June and became operational on Thursday.
A multilingual hotline was launched as part of the outreach campaign to answer questions from employers and employees that will also serve as a complaint hotline for workers. Complaints can also be emailed to olse@smcgov.org.
