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For the past four decades, the majority of American workers have been shortchanged by economic policymaking that has suppressed the growth of hourly wages and prevented greater improvements in living standards. Achieving a secure, middle-class lifestyle has become increasingly difficult as hourly pay for most workers has either stagnated or declined. For millions of the country's lowest-paid workers, financial security is even more fleeting because of unscrupulous employers stealing a portion of their paychecks.
Wage theft, the practice of employers failing to pay workers the full wages to which they are legally entitled, is a widespread and deep-rooted problem that directly harms millions of U.S. workers each year. Employers refusing to pay promised wages, paying less than legally mandated minimums, failing to pay for all hours worked, or not paying overtime premiums deprives working people of billions of dollars annually. It also leaves hundreds of thousands of affected workers and their families in poverty. Wage theft does not just harm the workers and families who directly suffer exploitation; it also weakens the bargaining power of workers more broadly by putting downward pressure on hourly wages in affected industries and occupations. For many low-income families who suffer wage theft, the resulting loss of income forces them to rely more heavily on public assistance programs, unduly straining safety net programs and hamstringing efforts to reduce poverty.
-- submitted from IRC
(Score: 2) by chewbacon on Monday May 22 2017, @06:25PM
Yeah, but people won't do the anything they don't want to do unless they are coerced to. People don't want to be complacent with getting screwed out of wages, but they fear losing their jobs and while being comforted by the idea of taking credit to make ends meet. Meanwhile, those making the call to screw people out of wages can't hear about or see the problem from their big houses on big lots of land in high income areas. So what do the little people do? Get a law passed, unless it effects a company with big pockets. Then it's the other political party's fault as they continue to get screwed.
A hospital I worked for rolled out an on-call program for nurses. It was really mandatory overtime, but they avoided using the term since it is linked to poorer patient outcomes. A nurse on call would get time and a half if they were called in. Eventually, we found out, if you went into overtime because you were on call, you waived your incentive rate for being called in. Waived, as if you had a choice. A few nurses ended up reaching out to the state nursing association, an advocacy group, who condemned the hospital that didn't care and the group said it was perfectly legal, albeit unethical.
Get a job where you can screw over everyone you know and ruin their lives, but it's legal. Be a business executive!