Enforcement Procedures/Dept. of Labor/Modernize/Wage and Hour

This Act amends provisions in Title 19 and Title 29 of the Delaware Code relating to the Department of Labor’s enforcement procedures and wage and hour enforcement. First, the Act amends Chapter 1 to modernize provisions relating to the Department’s inspections and handling of witnesses and evidence. The changes intend to align the Code with relevant case law and commonly accepted inspection practices. Second, the Act requires the Department to promulgate regulations to establish administrative procedures for civil enforcement actions under several Chapters, including Chapter 5 (Child Labor), Chapter 9 (Minimum Wage), Chapter 11 (Wage Payment and Collection Act), Chapter 35 (Workplace Fraud), and Chapter 36 (Contractor Registration), to have consistency throughout Department proceedings. Third, the Act corrects an issue identified within Chapter 11 when SS 1 for SB 35 of the 151st General Assembly was enacted, which inadvertently created a conflict between civil enforcement procedures and fines for violations within the same Chapter. Fourth, the Act increases certain civil penalties in Title 19 and Title 29. Finally, the Act removes a loophole in which employers who retaliated against employees by terminating an employee avoided penalty because the individual was no longer employed as a result of the retaliation and thus not an employee. It also updates the penalties to bring them in line with other similar statutes.