By Mark Pattison
Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) — Wage theft poses a significant problem to U.S. workers, according to Kim Bobo, executive director of the Chicago-based Interfaith Worker Justice organization and author of a new book called “Wage Theft.”

Wage theft robs workers of pay they deservedly earned, but also robs government of about $18 billion a year in tax revenues, including payroll, income, unemployment, workers’ compensation and Social Security taxes, Bobo said in her book.

Bobo spoke Feb. 21 at a luncheon sponsored by the Catholic Labor Network, a participant in the Feb. 22-25 Catholic Social Ministry Gathering in Washington.

She outlined several instances of wage theft uncovered recently:

• A Vietnamese restaurant chain in New York City was found to have paid its workers, on average, $540 a month. “That’s less than $2 an hour,” Bobo said. That was before their bosses levied $20 fines against them for such infractions as typing too slowly or slamming a door too loudly. “There are 2 to 3 million workers who are not legally paid the minimum wage,” currently $6.55 an hour, according to Bobo.

• A leather goods factory that was the focus of a federal raid for undocumented immigrants failed to pay overtime. “They clocked ‘em out at 5 o’clock, and then they clocked ‘em back in at 5:30, under another company,” Bobo said.

• The Shur-Brite Car Wash in Nashville, Tenn., clocked in its workers only when there was a car to be washed, and clocked them back out again after the car wash was completed, according to Bobo. “They were working 12 to 14 hours a day, but getting paid for only six to seven,” she said.

• The nation’s largest retailer and employer, Wal-Mart, agreed just before Christmas to settle 63 wage and hour claims pending in various courts. Wal-Mart will pay between $350 million and $640 million for claims they forced employees to work off the clock.

Bobo said there are an estimated 30 million workers who are wrongly classified as independent contractors, allowing employers to not pay taxes on their wages. “That’s not only stealing from the workers, but stealing from the public coffers,” she added.

Suits, Bobo said, have been filed against the Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts chains over managers systematically swiping the money from the tip cups at the cash registers.

She recalled one time when she was eating at one of her favorite restaurants in Chicago and realized she did not have enough cash to pay the bill. When Bobo showed the server a credit card, she asked the server, “If I put this (tip) on the bill, will you get it?” The server replied “No.”

Other instances of wage theft Bobo highlighted included fired workers not getting their final paycheck, and day laborers “who don’t get paid at all.”

The industry where wage theft is most prevalent is the poultry industry. “You can’t get much higher than 100 percent,” Bobo said. About 90 percent of landscaping firms engage in some form of wage theft as well, she added.

“Residential construction is horrendous,” according to Bobo, and the rate of wage theft among nursing homes has been put at 60 percent, mostly for overtime that doesn’t get paid.

“The most egregious wage theft is among immigrants, but wage theft is not exclusively an immigration problem,” she said. She noted, though, that employment matters — wage issues specifically — top even documentation issues when immigrants go to Catholic immigration centers for assistance, and added that immigrants are wary of complaining to federal officials about wage theft.

The federal government has not been in much of a position to combat wage theft save for the occasional “triage,” Bobo said. When the federal Wage and Hour Division was established in 1941, she added, there were 1,700 investigators for the 17 million workers covered under the law. Today, the law covers 137 million workers, but there are only 750 investigators.

Bobo called for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, which would transfer from employers to employees the decision on how a union representing the workers will be formed. She also called for the creation of more worker centers that could protect workers from wage theft.

Next Front Page Article

back to top

home