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Billions stolen in wage theft from US workers

theguardian.com

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Re: Billions stolen in wage theft from US workers

#221

Post by Jensson »

uni_rule wrote: post #217
Jensson wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Wage theft utterly eclipses every other form of larceny in the United States at least If you define being late with payments as theft, then I'd bet that rent theft is way larger than wage theft. I don't see why you would say that it is theft when you are late with payments to a worker but not theft when you are late with payments to a company. If being late with payments isn't theft, then "wage theft" isn't theft,…

"If this thing was an entirely different situation then the stakes would be different." Well, glad we got that part worked out.

It is the same situation, entity A didn't pay entity B the money they agreed to pay.

Re: Billions stolen in wage theft from US workers

#222

Post by InSteady »

bongodongobob wrote: post #162
PenguinCoder wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The promise of salary work in America is such one sided bullcrap. Get paid the same amount of to get your work done no matter the time it takes. if it takes 6 hours or 12 hours, you'll get the same amount. But if you don't work at least 40hrs a week on salary, we're docking your pay. Oh but also, you don't get paid for any hours over 8 in a day. Salary!

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Children are starving in Africa so Americans who miss a few meals have no right to complain. Try starving in Africa for a few weeks then you'll be begging to come back and resume living paycheck to paycheck. /s

Re: Billions stolen in wage theft from US workers

#223

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

spamizbad wrote: post #9

This phenomena is pretty widespread in the service industry and I would venture to say that a significant minority of businesses participate in some version of wage theft. For example, one of my jobs right out of high school was waiting tables at a local restaurant. If you were opening, the expectation from owners and management was you'd get in early to help open but would wait 15 minutes before service started befo…

Right after I finished tech school, and I was waiting for my first technician job, I worked for a friend's home remodeling contractor company for a few weeks. I was the "helper," so, naturally, I got all the shit work. The wages were minimum wage.

He kept jerking me around, paying fractions of what he owed me, then "forgetting" how much was left, etc. I probably ended up getting about a quarter or what I was owed.

This was a "friend" (note the quotes). I can only imagine what happens with the contractors that hire laborers from the side of the street, in the local hispanic district. Those chaps don't have any recourse (Unless you count the local MS-13 chapter).

I hear a lot of people tell me about the "wait to clock in" gig. Many of them "help themselves" to their employers' assets. I don't condone that, but I also don't condone their getting ripped off.

Large-scale, white-collar employers probably reap billions from stolen wages. My first job was hourly, and I made a lot of money over my standard wages (it was actually an honest employer -defense contractor, so they were audited with a proctoscope).

During my exempt career, I encountered all kinds of nickel-and-dime behavior. Those nickels and dimes add up to new Porsches in the driveways of senior managers.

Re: Billions stolen in wage theft from US workers

#224

Post by billy99k »

hasty_pudding wrote: post #171
ToucanLoucan wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you want to demonstrate to someone why the legal system is designed for the wealthy and not the common people, I don't think you can do better than the entire subject of wage theft. Wage theft utterly eclipses every other form of larceny in the United States at least, and it is practically legal in every way apart from the letter of the law. Few companies ever see any consequences at all, and the few that do, it's…

Most companies dont pay many taxes either.

any proof of this? Every company I've worked for pays lots in taxes.

Re: Billions stolen in wage theft from US workers

#225

Post by phpisthebest »

BobaFloutist wrote: post #136
Workaccount2 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I working in restaurants for years. They purposely go for high school kids because they know they don't know the law, and know that they will think walking out with $50 is awesome, even if they worked 6 hours.

And then they get mad that the teenagers they made a point of hiring are irresponsible, unreliable, and have limited experience working. You know, teenagers.

I started working at 16, at a walmart.

I only called sick a handful of times, never was late, and did my job to the best of my ability. it is called work ethic. I started at $0.25 above minimum wage, as we given several raises, and position changes by the time I left at age 18, why because I was one of the most reliable teens they had, and they did not want me to go to another employer.

Some parents instill work ethic in their children even teens, sadly we do not have many good parents these days it seems like

and for the record, walmart never asked me and I never did work a single second off the clock...

Re: Billions stolen in wage theft from US workers

#226

Post by tootie »

darth_avocado wrote: post #43

People thinking wage theft only affects lower wage workers, let me tell you how tech companies commit wage theft: 1. Having annual components to wages (RSUs, bonuses), making you work all year and firing you just before they have to pay you. 2. Having no overtime for salaried employees 3. Having employees work extra responsibilities that are not part of the job description by promising promotions and then not giving…

That's not theft. It's not even really unethical. It's well-understood that the value of RSUs is not guaranteed. Nor is bonus pay. For one, this kind of comp only typically applies to people earning a base salary way above the median and that anyone accepting comp in terms of company or personal performance is willingly signing on to accept the risk.

Re: Billions stolen in wage theft from US workers

#227

Post by bena »

reaperman wrote: post #198
pixl97 wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, this entire you're working for $2 an hour and hoping to earn tips shit needs to end. >They want $7.25 for that hour. Regardless of the fact that the previous hour they took in $20 in tips. Good. It is the companies job to pay the minimum wage rate per hour regardless of weather customer come in or not. If the restaurant industry cannot survive this they have no legal right to slave wages to survive.

They do have a "legal" and ethical right federally in the USA (some smaller jurisdictions have stronger rules but that's not typical). But perhaps you mean to argue they shouldn't have a legal right, or don't have a "moral" right. I have worked restaurants and believe that minimum wage should be meted out on a per-hour basis because of the way the current system mis-aligns incentives. The restaurant owner is encourag…

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Re: Billions stolen in wage theft from US workers

#228

Post by ebiester »

londons_explore wrote: post #196
nonrandomstring wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You think the construction industry is illegal. Wait till you hear about academia!! :) This is the life today for zero-hours, at-will employment in the university sector. As a visiting professor I've had universities ask me to deliver a semester course a year in advance, and call the week before to say they're not running it. At the very minimum a 12 week course takes 40 hours of preparation even if you're just refre…

Universities, unlike building firms, have actual assets and are unlikely to claim bankruptcy. That means you could easily take the above issues to small claims court as long as you had them in writing (and remember, even a agreement to pay you via email usually suffices - no formal documents or signatures required)

...and then your career in academia is over, regardless of the official rules of retribution.

Which, based on all of the bad experiences, might be a blessing in disguise for adjuncts (UK or otherwise!)

Re: Billions stolen in wage theft from US workers

#229

Post by themaninthedark »

lupire wrote: post #106
brvsft wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is the US responsible for Mexicans raping other Mexicans? Is it our responsibility to stop all bad things from happening or just those that happen in Mexico? Should we have a police force on Mexican soil?

I can't see "US" and "Mexico" from space. Mexicans are US Americans human neighbors.

Out of curiosity, what would your response be if Putin said "I can't see Russia and Ukraine from space, I am just providing security support for my human neighbors"

Re: Billions stolen in wage theft from US workers

#230

Post by mjburgess »

phpisthebest wrote: post #220
mjburgess wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To clarify this further: The employer is already a collective, "A business", and the hiring manager is operating with the full power of that collective in hiring/firing negotations. A union is a collective to balance power against the business (collective). A cartel is a collective of collectives (ie., a group of businesses) operating to defeat free market competition regulation, in this sense the cartel is balancing…

This is very simplistic, and somewhat wrong First and foremost, states do not, and cannot "create free markets" the existence of a state to regulation a market makes is de-facto non-free This is also a very rose colored look at unions, while simultaneously demonizing businesses. In reality it is completely possible to have an exploitive union. At the end of the day, power corrupts, and the more power a person or grou…

err.. no, free markets are state constructions.

By default, an unregulated market becomes non-free essentially immediately, as cartels form (indeed, as cartels of cartels form, hence states).

As Hobbes observed, in the state of nature there is no motivation to remain as an individual, so you form groups in order for self-protection. In an "anarchical market" you end up with incredible levels of monopolisation (etc.).

A free market is a state construction whereby cartels, scams, fraud, (murder, theft, etc.) is prohibited so that limited liability collectives (another state construction) called "businesses" can freely compete for labour and profit.

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