Capitalistic employers are stealing billions from workers’ paychecks each year, since many decades, self-enriching and feeding its own “financial mafia breed” – their laughing BrandDay are fast replacing the classy MayDay wisdom. Achieving a secure, middle-class lifestyle has become increasingly difficult as pay income for most workers has either stagnated or declined. For millions of low-paid laborers and self-employed, financial security is even more fleeting because of “unscrupulous bhakts” stealing a portion of their capital, goes scot-free by paying commissions to state policy makers and watch doggies.
Wage theft, the practice of employers failing / delaying / denying to pay workers the full wages / fees to which they are legally entitled, is a widespread and deep-rooted problem that directly harms millions of workers each year. Branded employers openly refuse to pay promised wages, paying less than legally mandated minimums, failing to pay for all hours worked, or not paying overtime depriving working people of billions annually. It also leaves millions of affected workers, small businesses and their families in poverty – call it reversal of legal / economic osmosis benefits, the Nobel trickle-up reality.
Wage theft does not just harm the workers and families who directly suffer exploitation; it also weakens the bargaining power of workers and many communities, more broadly by putting downward pressure on labor wages in affected industries and occupations. For many low-income families who suffer wage theft, the resulting loss of income forces them to rely more heavily on public assistance programs, financial traps, unduly straining safety net programs and hamstringing efforts to reduce poverty.
What is wage theft?
Failure or refusal to pay workers (whether white, black, blue, yellow or multi-collar) the full benefits to which they are legally and economically entitled. Income theft can take many forms, including but not limited to:
- Minimum wage violations: Paying workers less than the legal minimum wage
- Overtime violations: Failing to pay nonexempt employees for hours worked in excess
- Off-the-clock violations: Asking labor to work off-the-clock before or after their shifts
- Holiday / break violations: Denying workers their legal holidays / breaks
- Monopolies: Commission agent jugaad to benefit large corporations get even larger via exploitation of self-employed and workers
- Illegal deductions: Taking illegal deductions from wages or not paying for health, finance, housing and other social benefits
- Tipped minimum wage violations: Confiscating tips from workers or failing to pay tipped workers the difference between their tips and the legal minimum wage
- Employee misclassification: Misclassifying employees as independent contractors to pay a lower labor wage than the legal minimum