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We love to talk about crime in America and usually the rhetoric is focused on the acts we can see: bank heists, stolen bicycles and cars, alleyway robberies. But Zachary Crockett writes at Pricenomics that wage theft is one of the more widespread crimes in our country today - the non-payment of overtime hours, the failure to give workers a final check upon leaving a job, paying a worker less than minimum wage, or, most flagrantly, just flat out not paying a worker at all.
Most commonly, wage theft comes in the form of overtime violations. In a 2008 study, the Center for Urban Economic Development surveyed 4,387 workers in low-wage industries and found that some 76% of full-time workers were not paid the legally required overtime rate by their employers (pdf) and the average worker with a violation had put in 11 hours of overtime—hours that were either underpaid or not paid at all. Nearly a quarter of the workers in the sample came in early and/or stayed late after their shift during the previous work week. Of these workers, 70 percent did not receive any pay at all for the work they performed outside of their regular shift. In total, unfairly withheld wages in these three cities topped $3 billion. Generalizing this for the rest of the U.S.’s low-wage workforce (some 30 million people), researchers estimate that wage theft could be costing Americans upwards of $50 billion per year.
Last year, the Economic Policy Institute made what is, to date, the most ambitious attempt to quantify the extent of reported wage theft in the U.S.and determined that “the total amount of money recovered for the victims of wage theft who retained private lawyers or complained to federal or state agencies was at least $933 million.” Obviously, the nearly $1 billion collected is only the tip of the wage-theft iceberg, since most victims never sue and never complain to the government. Commissioner Su of California says wage theft has harmed not just low-wage workers. “My agency has found more wages being stolen from workers in California than any time in history,” says Su. “This has spread to multiple industries across many sectors. It’s affected not just minimum-wage workers, but also middle-class workers.”
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 25 2015, @12:49AM
"It’s affected not just minimum-wage workers, but also middle-class workers.”
The good stuff doesn't ever trickle down--but bad stuff does.
That's why wage-related stuff is very much on-topic here.
-- gewg_
(Score: -1, Troll) by Ethanol-fueled on Monday May 25 2015, @01:04AM
I navigated to soylentnews.org and seeing the story on the front page I knew immediately what I was going to post -- some snide remark about Hugh Pickens having discovered gay sex with gewg_...
And lookie here, I just came in to find just you. Timestamps don't lie.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 25 2015, @01:28AM
"The good stuff doesn't ever trickle down"
Golden shower?
(Score: 0, Offtopic) by Ethanol-fueled on Monday May 25 2015, @01:47AM
Some folk don't consider being pissed on a "net positive."
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Monday May 25 2015, @02:00AM
Aren't you about to be laid off? You should be more worried about not getting screwed by your employer instead of shitposting. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 25 2015, @02:09AM
What's wrong with his (or her) post? It's a perfectly valid opinion and is relevant.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Monday May 25 2015, @04:31AM
How did you find that out?! And why are you posting it in a discussion?!
All kidding aside, my employer has known I hate them ever since I started working for them. Yours probably knows you hate them, too.
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Monday May 25 2015, @05:11AM
Don't worry EF, I bet MDC has a job for you.
When life isn't going right, go left.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday May 25 2015, @03:14AM
What are you talking about? Has nothing to do with the trickle, everything can be esplained by the failed experiments of multiculturalism [soylentnews.org]: it's obvious that the low paid workers simple can't integrate (even the middle class have difficulties to do it) into the mainstream culture of the USofA (or even the larger "globalisation" megaculture - see TTP/TTIP). </sarcasm>
(now, mod me Troll. Then... think a bit: isn't it weird that the multiculturalism usually fails when the people don't have enough to live a decent life?)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by davester666 on Monday May 25 2015, @09:04AM
This wage-theft thing is more of a "flood-upwards".