DES MOINES -- State labor officials and county attorneys will have more tools to prosecute employers who fail to pay employees or violate child labor law under legislation signed by Gov. Chet Culver Wednesday.

House File 618 was unanimously approved by the House and Senate.

"This bill makes one point crystal clear: Bad acts in the workplace have consequences in Iowa," Culver said. "Employers who illegally and unfairly exploit their workers have no place in Iowa."

The impetus for the bill came from employees at a Cedar Rapids hotel who complained they were not being paid and from an investigation into allegations of child labor violations at Agriprocessors in Postville.

It was the first time since 1974 the laws have been strengthened, according to state Labor Commissioner Dave Neil of La Porte City. The change will give his department more tools to prosecute violators. County attorneys sometimes were reluctant to prosecute wage payment and child labor violations, he said, but the tougher penalties through the administrative law judge process gives the labor department "a platform to stand on to make the case" for a county attorney to prosecute, he said.

While violations are not numerous, Rep. Todd Taylor, D-Cedar Rapids, said HF 618 "adds teeth to the law."

The bill gives Neil no more resources to go after employers. Enforcement is a complaint-driven process "and the public is very good about letting us know" when there is a problem, said Neil, a former state political director for the United Auto Workers and a former president of UAW Local 838 in Waterloo.

Most groups following the bill were registered as "undecided." The Iowa Grocery Association, Iowa Nebraska Farm Equipment Dealer Association and the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa opposed it.

Contact James Q. Lynch

at (319) 398-8375 or

james.lynch@gazcomm.com.