Payday Thievery
Dear Leading Ladies,
In a conversation over the holidays, one of my sons reflected on a job he had scooping ice cream at a chichi organic ice cream store in Berlin. He remarked that he didn’t think it was fair that he was expected to get there a few minutes early in order to don his work apron and wash his hands, but he wasn’t allowed to clock in – and, thus, get paid – until after those tasks were completed. That didn’t sound right to him. His passive/aggressive response was to get there as close to clock-in time as possible – or even a little late – and then grab the apron as he clocked in.
When he was telling me this, I admit I was a bit the disapproving mom.
That was before I started reading about wage theft. Now I want to start a class action suit against the shop. Well, maybe just register a complaint.
It’s bad enough that a person can’t pay rent and put food on the table with a minimum wage job unless they work more than 200 hours a week. And, yes, we also know there are only 168 hours in a week. Now we find out that too many minimum wage workers aren’t even getting the paychecks they are due.
What is wage theft?
UCLA Labor Center
Wage theft is defined as the denial of wages or benefits that are owed to a worker. Wage theft can be easily recognized when it is something like not paying overtime when it is due, but more often it is difficult to identify and goes unreported when it refers to issues such as meal and rest breaks or access to worker’s compensation.
Wage theft particularly affects those in low-wage industries such as construction, child care and food services. Women, young workers, people of color, and immigrant workers are most vulnerable, ostensibly because they fill the ranks of these low-paying jobs.
How pervasive is it?
The scope of this problem in the United States is staggering. Wage theft “affects far more people than more well-known and feared forms of theft such as bank robberies, convenience store robberies, street and highway robberies, and gas station robberies,” according to a report by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).
“Survey research shows that well over two-thirds of low-wage workers have been the victims of wage theft,” EPI says, most commonly from employers working them off the clock (working before or after their shifts), failing to pay the minimum wage, or cheating them of overtime pay. Even my son, if he had done what he was supposed to do, and if he had been working full time, could have lost a full hour’s pay per week. That’s not nothing when you are a poor grad student far from home.
Wage theft is estimated to affect 27 percent of the low-wage workforce, according to a 2017 study, throwing them below the poverty line and making them dependent on social services to make ends meet.
Moreover, according to the same study, “In the 10 most populous states in the country, each year 2.4 million workers covered by state or federal minimum wage laws report being paid less than the applicable minimum wage in their state—approximately 17 percent of the eligible low-wage workforce,” so that “the total underpayment of wages to these workers amounts to over $8 billion annually.”
Is there any good news?
The good news is that recently at least a couple of big corporations have taken hits for their wage theft practices. Just last week, two Burger King franchise owners in San Francisco were ordered to pay $2.2 million to 230 employees for unpaid wages and denying breaks. And in November, Amazon in Oregon settled a class action suit by paying $18 million to employees who claimed they were shorted on their paychecks when they clocked in late or when they took shorter than allotted breaks.
And, to be fair, some wage theft issues are innocent mistakes and can be remedied by approaching managers on the job. If that doesn’t solve the problem, affected workers should file complaints with their state or the Department of Labor. In Massachusetts, cheated workers file with the Attorney General's Office which also holds a series of clinics to help workers understand their rights.
Several states have passed laws that make it difficult for employers to perpetrate wage theft. And the Center for Popular Democracy created a toolkit, called "A Practical Guide to Combating Wage Theft: Lessons from the Field," which offers a framework for developing worker-led campaigns. “Drawing lessons from victories around the country, the Guide includes tips for building strong and diverse coalitions, enacting wage theft legislation at the city and state level, and developing a powerful communications strategy that names and shames bad actors,” according to their website.
Please share the facts about wage theft with your family and friends, co-workers and employees. In addition, here are some signs that a worker may be a victim of wage theft, as quoted from an article in Forbes Adviser.
Your paycheck is repeatedly incorrect, even after you’ve asked about it.
You don’t get to take a meal break or you have to do work tasks even though you’re clocked out.
You’re an hourly worker who completes overtime hours but doesn’t get overtime pay.
Your boss tells you to work off the clock.
Your workplace misclassifies your work status, preventing you from receiving minimum wage or overtime pay. (For example, you’re a contractor for a company that’s doing the work of an employee, but you don’t get the same benefits the employees do.)
Your boss makes you pay upfront for a uniform. Your employer may take the cost of a uniform from your paycheck, but doing so can’t lower your hourly wage below the legal minimum.
You buy something with your own money for your employer, but they don’t reimburse you.
You leave a job, but your employer doesn’t pay your final paycheck.
Be safe and careful. And mask up to stay well,
Judy (she/her/hers)
and
Therese (she/her/hers)
Didi (she/her/hers)
Mackenzie (she/her/hers)
Leading Ladies Executive Team
Leadingladiesvote.org
ladies@leadingladiesvote.org