There is an epidemic of wage theft taking place in the United States. Wage theft occurs when workers are underpaid or not paid at all for work that they have done, or, when they are not paid overtime. Billions of dollars in wages are stolen from
millions of workers on a daily basis. The guilty range from small
neighborhood businesses to some of the nation’s largest
employers and even federal,
state, and local governments.
Although wage theft is most devastating when employers steal
money from low wage workers, it is a crime that hurts many
middle-income workers too, including construction workers, nurses,
dieticians, writers, bookkeepers, and many more. Wage theft hurts
young workers, mid-career workers, and older workers. It might surprise some to learn that the largest dollar amounts are stolen from
native-born white and African-American workers in the form of unpaid overtime.
If you are an employee it is important to keep good records. Keep track of your hours, save your pay-stubs. If your records don't match your paycheck amount, check it out with your employer. If the answers you get don't make sense, come to one of our Thursday night trainings and follow up with an appointment. In the meantime, check out our wage theft resource document. Other excellent resources include Wage Theft in America, by IWJ National Executive Director, Kim Bobo and the wage theft study "Broken Laws, Unprotected Workers" commissioned by the Ford, Joyce, Haynes and Russell Sage Foundations.