Wage theft

Wage theft is the denial of wages or employee benefits that are rightfully owed to an employee. Wage theft can be conducted through various means such as: failure to pay overtime, minimum wage violations, employee misclassification, illegal deductions in pay, working off the clock, or not being paid at all.

According to some studies, wage theft is common in the United States, particularly from low wage legal or illegal immigrant workers. The Economic Policy Institute reported in 2014 that survey evidence suggests wage theft costs US workers billions of dollars a year. Some rights violated by wage theft have been guaranteed to workers in the United States in the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

According to the FLSA, unless exempt, employees are entitled to receive overtime pay calculated at least time and one-half times pay for all time worked past forty hours a week. Some exemptions to this rule apply to public service agencies or to employees who meet certain requirements in accordance to their job duties along with a salary of no less than $455 a week. Despite regulations, there are many employees today who are not paid overtime due them. A 2009 study of workers in the United States found that in 12 occupations more than half of surveyed workers reported being denied overtime pay: child care (90.2 percent denial), stock and office clerks (86 percent), home health care (82.7 percent), beauty/dry cleaning and general repair workers (81.9 percent), car wash workers and parking attendants (77.9 percent), waiters, cafeteria workers and bartenders (77.9 percent), retail salespersons (76.2 percent), janitors and grounds workers (71.2 percent), garment workers (69.9 percent), cooks and dishwashers (67.8 percent), construction workers (66.1 percent) and cashiers (58.8 percent).

In 2009, reform placed the new federal minimum wage at $7.25. Some states have legislation that sets a state minimum wage. In the case an employee is subject to both federal and state minimum wage acts, the employee is entitled to the higher standard of compensation. For tipped employees, the employer is only required to compensate the employee $2.13 an hour as long as the fixed wage and the tips add up to be at or above the federal minimum wage. Minimum wage is enforced by the Wage and Hour Division (WHD). WHD is generally contacted by 25,000 people a year in regards to concerns and violations of minimum wage pay. A common form of wage theft for tipped employees is to receive no standard pay ($2.13 an hour) along with tips.

...
Wikipedia