I think they should be paid, but they are not the only sufferers. There are many ways companies cheat employees out of pay. They can get very creative.
The only answer I guess is that they lose good employees and can only retain substandard ones.
I should add that as far as cheating goes, employees are far guiltier in general. The creative ways employees cheat employers is stunning.
And they do a lot of damage to America -- it creates (perfectly justified) resentment that creates (unjustified, but inevitable) fertile ground for leftist anti-business propaganda.
I worked for New York State's prison system. The uniformed staff had three main shifts: Shift One was 6:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. Shift Two was 2:45 p.m. to 11 p.m. Shift Three was 10:45 p.m. to 7 a.m. On numerous occasions I would be scheduled to work a double shift (Shift Two and Three: 2:45 to 7 a.m.). I wouldn't get the overtime for the 2nd 8 hours, because the State considered Shift Three to be the next calendar day. It was their way of getting away with not having to hire overtime to cover an empty post.