Tom Manzo

Tom Manzo, founder of the California Business and Industrial Alliance, said the [wage theft] partnership was “a terrible idea,” because it crosses lines between regulator and advocate, given the worker centers have an explicitly pro-labor agenda.

“They’re doing everything they can to find any kind of violation,” Manzo said.

The alliance is a major critic of the state’s private attorneys general act, which allows workers to file civil suits on behalf of the Labor Commissioner’s office, including those alleging wage theft.