Any employer or any officer or agent of an employer or any other person authorized by an employer to pay wages who violates any provision of this part: (1) Shall be guilty of a class D felony, except that such employer, officer or agent shall be fined not less than two thousand nor more than five thousand dollars for each offense if the total amount of all unpaid wages owed to an employee is more than two thousand dollars; (2) may be fined not less than one thousand nor more than two thousand dollars or imprisoned not more than one year, or both, for each offense if the total amount of all unpaid wages owed to an employee is more than one thousand dollars but not more than two thousand dollars; (3) may be fined not less than five hundred nor more than one thousand dollars or imprisoned not more than six months, or both, for each offense if the total amount of all unpaid wages owed to an employee is more than five hundred but not more than one thousand dollars; or (4) may be fined not less than two hundred nor more than five hundred dollars or imprisoned not more than three months, or both, for each offense if the total amount of all unpaid wages owed to an employee is five hundred dollars or less.

(1967, P.A. 714, S. 7; P.A. 78-358, S. 1, 6; P.A. 93-392, S. 4; P.A. 13-258, S. 98.)

History: P.A. 78-358 made imposition of penalty optional rather than mandatory, substituting “may” for “shall”, imposed minimum fine of $200 and raised maximum fine from $200 to $1,000; P.A. 93-392 increased the maximum penalty for violating the state's wage laws from $1,000 and 30 days to $5,000 and five years, and to allow for the imposition of varying fines and prison terms based on the amount of wages owed by an employer; P.A. 13-258 substituted provision re class D felony for provision re imprisonment of not more than 5 years in Subdiv. (1) and made technical changes.

Cited. 212 C. 294. Structural relationship to Sec. 31-72 discussed. 243 C. 454.

Cited. 36 CA 29; 37 CA 379.