Wage Theft 2014 Still a Lot of Work to Do
According to the Harper's Index, May 2014 there was a minimum of $280 billion in wage theft in 2012 where workers were not paid overtime, the minimum wage, illegal deductions, working off the clock, employee mis classification, or not being paid at all.
In 2010 the Miami Dade Board of County Commissioners passed a local ordinance which outlawed wage theft and amazingly it was one of the first local governments to pass such an ordinance.
The Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division is the federal agency charged with enforcing the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. According to Wikipedia there are only 1100 inspectors to investigate these kinds of complaints for a workforce of 135 million people in over 7.3 million businesses.
Women, the foreign born and undocumented workers are at the greatest risk for being victims of wage theft but it can happen to anyone and even workers at Walmart have had continued problems with compliance with the FLSA of 1938.
From personal experience the problem is much larger than folks would admit. Given the condition of the economy, at risk workers are reluctant to complain for fear of losing their already crappy jobs. I bet there are lots of employers in Miami that never carry tip based employees on their payroll. Even independent contractors should be covered by workers comp should there be an accident or injury while at work. This does nothing but encourage working even more working off the books and non payment of taxes by both employers and the workers.
Small business people need to comply with laws when it comes to dealing with their employees, records need to be kept, and folks need to be treated fairly. Employers that follow the laws, keep proper records, and treat folks right have less turnover and their workers are more productive. Employers that short their workers aren't much different than the ordinary criminals we all bitch about.
The problem is wide spread enough that Broward, Palm Beach County and other Florida Counties are considering similar ordinances.
In 2010 the Miami Dade Board of County Commissioners passed a local ordinance which outlawed wage theft and amazingly it was one of the first local governments to pass such an ordinance.
The Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division is the federal agency charged with enforcing the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. According to Wikipedia there are only 1100 inspectors to investigate these kinds of complaints for a workforce of 135 million people in over 7.3 million businesses.
Women, the foreign born and undocumented workers are at the greatest risk for being victims of wage theft but it can happen to anyone and even workers at Walmart have had continued problems with compliance with the FLSA of 1938.
From personal experience the problem is much larger than folks would admit. Given the condition of the economy, at risk workers are reluctant to complain for fear of losing their already crappy jobs. I bet there are lots of employers in Miami that never carry tip based employees on their payroll. Even independent contractors should be covered by workers comp should there be an accident or injury while at work. This does nothing but encourage working even more working off the books and non payment of taxes by both employers and the workers.
Small business people need to comply with laws when it comes to dealing with their employees, records need to be kept, and folks need to be treated fairly. Employers that follow the laws, keep proper records, and treat folks right have less turnover and their workers are more productive. Employers that short their workers aren't much different than the ordinary criminals we all bitch about.
The problem is wide spread enough that Broward, Palm Beach County and other Florida Counties are considering similar ordinances.
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