Claims of wage theft all over the country

[Ultimate Paragon]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/01/business/more-workers-are-claiming-wage-theft.html?_r=0

MIRA LOMA, Calif. — Week after week, Guadalupe Rangel worked seven days straight, sometimes 11 hours a day, unloading dining room sets, trampolines, television stands and other imports from Asia that would soon be shipped to Walmart stores.

Even though he often clocked 70 hours a week at the Schneider warehouse here, he was never paid time-and-a-half overtime, he said. And now, having joined a lawsuit involving hundreds of warehouse workers, Mr. Rangel stands to receive more than $20,000 in back pay as part of a recent $21 million legal settlement with Schneider, a national trucking company.

“Sometimes I’d work 60, even 90 days in a row,” said Mr. Rangel, a soft-spoken immigrant from Mexico. “They never paid overtime.”

The lawsuit is part of a flood of recent cases — brought in California and across the nation — that accuse employers of violating minimum wage and overtime laws, erasing work hours and wrongfully taking employees’ tips. Worker advocates call these practices “wage theft,” insisting it has become far too prevalent.

Some federal and state officials agree. They assert that more companies are violating wage laws than ever before, pointing to the record number of enforcement actions they have pursued. They complain that more employers — perhaps motivated by fierce competition or a desire for higher profits — are flouting wage laws.

Many business groups counter that government officials have drummed up a flurry of wage enforcement actions, largely to score points with union allies. If anything, employers have become more scrupulous in complying with wage laws, the groups say, in response to the much publicized lawsuits about so-called off-the-clock work that were filed against Walmart and other large companies a decade ago.

Here in California, a federal appeals court ruled last week that FedEx had in effect committed wage theft by insisting that its drivers were independent contractors rather than employees. FedEx orders many drivers to work 10 hours a day, but does not pay them overtime, which is required only for employees. FedEx said it planned to appeal.

Julie Su, the state labor commissioner, recently ordered a janitorial company in Fremont to pay $332,675 in back pay and penalties to 41 workers who cleaned 17 supermarkets. She found that the company forced employees to sign blank time sheets, which it then used to record inaccurate, minimal hours of work.

David Weil, the director of the federal Labor Department’s wage and hour division, says wage theft is surging because of underlying changes in the nation’s business structure. The increased use of franchise operators, subcontractors and temp agencies leads to more employers being squeezed on costs and more cutting corners, he said. A result, he added, is that the companies on top can deny any knowledge of wage violations.

“We have a change in the structure of work that is then compounded by a falling level of what is viewed as acceptable in the workplace in terms of how you treat people and how you regard the law,” Mr. Weil said.

His agency has uncovered nearly $1 billion in illegally unpaid wages since 2010. He noted that the victimized workers were disproportionately immigrants.

This is appalling.

[I am lizard]

Another episode in the long saga "rich fucks screwing over everyone else!" Part 7 billion.

[Ironchew]

Time to see if white collar crime does the same time as the equivalent value, say, stolen or embezzled by a commoner -- my guess is the former would just get a slap on the wrist while the latter would be locked away for a long time.

Employers benefit from the status quo of our immigration system. When undocumented Americans are afraid to talk to the police about anything, it allows more powerful thugs to treat them as nonhuman entities. If I may put on my tinfoil hat for a moment here, sometimes I even think employers enjoy this state of affairs and actively perpetuate anti-immigration policies with their political clout.

[Ghoti]

No tinfoil hat needed, Chew: what you're thinking of is called the Republican Party.

[Cerim Treascair]

Funny, my roommate's dealing with this exact problem at his job.  And they have the evidence to have his CEO and the majority stakeholders in the company in Austria by the balls.  Oh yes, every now and again, he breaks into maniacal laughter thinking about it.

[Sylvana]

I think the most sick thing about this, is how the employee cant even afford to take their employers to court over this. Their employers know they have the power, and can always punish an uppity worker by reducing their hours and thus even what little pay they get.

In South Africa we have extremely progressive labor laws, to the point that it really stifles business growth, but I would take this any day over the madness in America.

[RavynousHunter]

I'm beginning to be of the opinion that everything needs to be unionized.