How companies rip off poor employees — and get away with it

RecentlyHeard ^ | 4/5/2021 | Rajesh

[rajesh0540]

Already harmed by long hours and high illness rates, critical jobs battling the pandemic face a new hazard: bosses who rob their salaries.

When a recession occurs, American businesses are most likely to penalise their lowest-wage employees. These establishments often pay less than the minimum wage, require workers to work off the clock, or fail to pay overtime rates. In the most heinous situations, employers fail to pay their workers at all.

According to a Center for Public Integrity report of minimum wage and overtime breaches from the United States, employers that hire child care assistants, gas station clerks, restaurant servers, and security guards are among the most likely to be found misleading their employees. Labor Department. In 2019, the department cited about 8,500 contractors for stealing about $287 million from employees.

Major American corporations are among the worst offenders. They include Halliburton, G4S Wackenhut, and Circle-K stores, which have taken more than $22 million from their staff since 2005, according to department reports.

Their victims serve on the lower levels of the labour force. People like Danielle Wynne, a $10-an-hour grocery store worker in Florida who claims her employer forced her to work off the clock, and Ruth Palacios, a Mexican janitor who paid less than the minimum wage to clean a New York City hospital during the pandemic.

Companies had no reason to abide by the rules. According to a study of statistics from the Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division, which reviews federal wage-theft complaints, repeat offenders are seldom penalised. The documents were accessed by Public Integrity by a Freedom of Information Act request spanning October 2005 to September 2020.

[Mr.Unique]

Why would any Conservative have such a misunderstanding about minimum wage laws?

Thomas Sowell on the cruelty of minimum wage laws

Good intentions have unintended consequences - The fallacy of minimum wage laws

I'd expect this level of ignorance at DU or an Antifa rally.

[Mr.Unique]

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

RecentlyHeard (which I have never heard of) and written by Rajesh (No Last Name).

I give this the all the credibility of a DNC press release.

[SamAdams76]

People like Danielle Wynne, a $10-an-hour grocery store worker in Florida who claims her employer forced her to work off the clock

I find it very hard to believe that still happens these days. I've been in management for many years and that has always been one of the cardinal sins for a manager to avoid. Not only will it get a manager immediately terminated but the company will be exposed to a lawsuit that it will almost always lose.

In fact, it's gone so far the other direction that we setup our email servers not to send email to hourly employees who are off the clock and we also tell the employees that if they work extra time without putting it on their sheet, that is a serious offense that could result in their termination.

Yes, you read that right. We could actually fire an employee for NOT reporting overtime and getting paid for it. Not that we'd want to do that but that's how seriously we take this.