The crime wave that nobody is talking about - Wage theft

John Freund, CM
September 13, 2014

Wage theft primer“Just Care”  at the LCUSA Assembly. The crime wave that nobody is talking about – wage theft.

Kim Bobo of Interfaith Workers Justice  opened the eyes of many during the second keynote presentation at the Ladies of Charity National Assembly in Milwaukee.

The issue of a minimum wage has garnered much attention on the national scene but Kim Bob put that one issue in the  context of related ways in which workers are being defrauded of their wages.

Among the often unrecognized ways the nations laws are being broken and workers cheated for their wages despite US laws

  • violations of minimum wage laws;
  • non-payment of time-and-a-half overtime pay;
  • workers being forced to work off the clock;
  • workers not receiving their final paychecks;
  • workers having their tips stolen by management;
  • payroll fraud:
  • workers misclassifed as independent contractors to avoid paying minimum wage and overtime, as well as the employers’ share of payroll taxes, workers comp, and benefits.

In some egregious cases, workers are not paid at all, even after putting in hundreds or even thousands of hours of work.

A video about the national crisis of wage theft that every year robs millions of workers out of billions of dollars they’ve worked for but never seen — featuring interviews with staff members of Interfaith Worker Justice (www.iwj.org) and the the Arise Chicago Worker Center (www.arisechicago.org). Produced by Jan Muller.

In her dynamic presentation she offered concrete things that the Ladies of Charity could do: in their local organizations or as individuals.

Click to download this 17-page study guide on wage theft


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