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DA office to accept $160,451 grant for criminal wage‑theft investigations, committee forwards resolution
Summary
The committee forwarded a retroactive resolution allowing the District Attorney’s office to accept a $160,451 state grant to fund a sworn investigator for labor trafficking and criminal wage‑theft cases and expand criminal enforcement capacity in the worker rights unit.
The Budget and Finance Committee forwarded a resolution authorizing the District Attorney’s Office to accept and expend $160,451 from the California Department of Industrial Relations’ Workers’ Rights Enforcement Grant program to implement a wage‑theft enforcement initiative for Aug. 1, 2024 through July 31, 2025.
Matt McCarthy, chief of the DA’s White Collar Crime Division, said the grant will fund a sworn criminal investigator (96% of the award) focused on labor trafficking and criminal wage‑theft investigations; the remaining 4% will cover auditing requirements. McCarthy said the DA’s worker rights unit has primarily pursued civil enforcement and the new funding will expand in‑house criminal investigative capacity given limited law‑enforcement capacity for such cases.
Vice Chair Rafael Mendelmann asked to be added as a co‑sponsor. With no public comment, the committee voted to forward the resolution to the full Board.
