An Epidemic of Wage Theft Is Costing Workers Hundreds of Millions a Year (2014)
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Re: An Epidemic of Wage Theft Is Costing Workers Hundreds of Millions a Year (2014)
#2"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.
Re: An Epidemic of Wage Theft Is Costing Workers Hundreds of Millions a Year (2014)
#3If 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...
Re: An Epidemic of Wage Theft Is Costing Workers Hundreds of Millions a Year (2014)
#4[deleted]
Re: An Epidemic of Wage Theft Is Costing Workers Hundreds of Millions a Year (2014)
#5how is this tech related again?
Re: An Epidemic of Wage Theft Is Costing Workers Hundreds of Millions a Year (2014)
#6> 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, but later refuse to, then you pay it back with some interest (or none, depending on the agreement) and it doesn't qualify as theft. And if you didn't intend to pay it when you acquired the debt, it's fraud... still not theft.
The semantics really matter, I think. And I think it might be a great example of why we should really not muddy discussions of crimes (or other things for that matter, I guess). If you insist on treating unpaid debts as theft, and you get exactly what you asked for, you're probably not going to like the outcome. You don't own your employer's money until it's paid to you, just like how a credit card company doesn't own your money until you make your bill payment. Otherwise everyone who declines to make a payment on their credit card bill would also be a thief.
Re: An Epidemic of Wage Theft Is Costing Workers Hundreds of Millions a Year (2014)
#7how is this tech related again?
Who said HN was strictly about tech?
Re: An Epidemic of Wage Theft Is Costing Workers Hundreds of Millions a Year (2014)
#8> 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 don't see how anything could ever be theft with this definition of theft...
Re: An Epidemic of Wage Theft Is Costing Workers Hundreds of Millions a Year (2014)
#9> 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 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?
Re: An Epidemic of Wage Theft Is Costing Workers Hundreds of Millions a Year (2014)
#10how is this tech related again?
many of the most successful startups are indistinguishable from obfuscated wage theft schemes, so there's much to learn from historical precedent