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.
In response to this growing national problem, AIAWJ has decided to take the first steps in what will be an anti-Wage Theft Campaign. We look forward to learning from other cities and states who have waged and won similar campaigns. In this section of our website, we want to share city- and state-wide examples of other campaigns that have been or are being waged in hopes that our supporters will join us in the fight against Wage Theft!