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Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't see how anything could ever be theft with this definition of theft...
Really? I can think of lots of things. If someone took your money from your wallet, that would be theft. If they refused to give it to you in the first place, that's not theft. It's pretty simple?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Really? I can think of lots of things. If someone took your money from your wallet, that would be theft. If they refused to give it to you in the first place, that's not theft. It's pretty simple?
Maybe they took the money as a loan, intending to pay it back one day?
> This failure to pay what workers are legally entitled to can be called wage theft; in essence, it involves employers taking money that belongs to their employees and keeping it for themselves. Shouldn't it be called fraud rather than theft? I thought theft is depriving someone of something they own... but you don't own the money yet before the payment is made. My understanding was, if you intended to pay a debt, bu…
Possibly worth noting if you reversed something like the McDonald's example, going into a restaurant and agreeing to pay for a burger, they give you a burger, and you don't pay, I'm pretty sure that would be prosecuted as theft. The terms of exchange don't specify payment in future installments with interest. Labor seemingly works the same way. Batching payments in biweekly installments is for convenience because it would be impractical to disburse funds continuously, not because you're loaning your labor. If you want to say they're not stealing money, fine, but they're stealing work. I guess the law doesn't seem to see it this way, though.
If USPS can get away with wage theft easily without consequences, I’m guessing it’s even easier for private employers. https://www.npr.org/2021/09/02/1033727651/investigation-show...
how is this tech related again?
You should familiarize yourself with HN guidelines [0] about etiquette, new user.
> This failure to pay what workers are legally entitled to can be called wage theft; in essence, it involves employers taking money that belongs to their employees and keeping it for themselves. Shouldn't it be called fraud rather than theft? I thought theft is depriving someone of something they own... but you don't own the money yet before the payment is made. My understanding was, if you intended to pay a debt, bu…
> This failure to pay what workers are legally entitled to can be called wage theft; in essence, it involves employers taking money that belongs to their employees and keeping it for themselves. Shouldn't it be called fraud rather than theft? I thought theft is depriving someone of something they own... but you don't own the money yet before the payment is made. My understanding was, if you intended to pay a debt, bu…
"Between 2012 and 2013, McDonald’s reached agreement with the Kentucky Labor Cabinet to pay $29,000 in back wages to 203 affected workers" So basically you steal the money, and if you're caught (unlikely), you just have to give it back. Maybe I should try that next time I'm in a restaurant.
Perhaps ironically, people frequently place orders at restaurant and then decline to come to pick them up & pay. They restaurant still ends up providing the service they promise, and the customer declines to make the payment they promise.
It's terrible, but my understanding is it's similarly quite commonplace and hardly ever prosecuted.
> This failure to pay what workers are legally entitled to can be called wage theft; in essence, it involves employers taking money that belongs to their employees and keeping it for themselves. Shouldn't it be called fraud rather than theft? I thought theft is depriving someone of something they own... but you don't own the money yet before the payment is made. My understanding was, if you intended to pay a debt, bu…
I think you’re conflating wages earned and wages paid. You most definitely do “own” the funds you’ve earned even if your employer has not yet paid them out to you.
> This failure to pay what workers are legally entitled to can be called wage theft; in essence, it involves employers taking money that belongs to their employees and keeping it for themselves. Shouldn't it be called fraud rather than theft? I thought theft is depriving someone of something they own... but you don't own the money yet before the payment is made. My understanding was, if you intended to pay a debt, bu…
"Wage theft" is an established term with clear meaning, is it really helpful in any way to try and cherry-pick it from first principles despite that? Nobody is using "wage theft" to suggest treating all unpaid debts as "theft".