Over $203 million in wages were stolen by employers from nearly 127,000 workers in New York between 2017 and 2021, according to a report last year by Documented and ProPublica. Of that amount, more than $52 million was stolen from people working in restaurants – the most in any industry. Wage theft was also rampant in health care and construction, where employers stole $28.4 million and $27.6 million, respectively. Most of these workers
There IS an arc bending towards justice. But sometimes it's hard to see. This is one of those times when that arc can be briefly seen thanks to our friends here at PI.
My guess is the MSM will be a day late and a dollar short, once again riding on Judd, Tesnim and Rebecca's coat-tails.
Do Americans care if it isn’t their pocket being robbed?
I didn’t see a big outcry over young children being discovered by the feds in meat plants. Or prison labor that makes people more valuable incarcerated than not. Americans want cheap food, services and products. A large percentage will give the ‘they can quit’ response. No outcry as the media reported on child labor laws being proposed — and really bad ones passed in states like Iowa and Arkansas.
Yes, but difficult to prove. That’s why some folks join unions which can represent employees for these grievances & have the clout to get the documentation from the employer.
Thank you Tesnim and Rebecca for persevering the examination of how corporations fleece their poorest employees. I wonder how many of these employees speak only Spanish, our immigrants seeking the American Dream, hoping to avoid persecution in their native countries. Why is it that only the Blue states with Democrat Governors seem to be the only ones to enact laws that hold the thieving businesses to account? Let's acknowledge Kathy Hochul NY, Phil Murphy NJ, Gavin Newsome CA, Jared Polis CO, and hopefully others who have taken on this grievous injustice to a large portion of our population. These people include those who say, "Well, Joe Biden has done nothing for me" and count for those who don't support him. He hired a woman who is taking this problem as one of her missions--the victimized people don't know this.
And what is the purpose of the Chamber of Commerce? to promote fraud and fleecing by those who own the businesses?
Because many of the other states don’t have enough residents who care. About 20 states have been reducing protections against child labor so they sure don’t care about adults.
In a statement, the Colorado Chamber of Commerce claims the bill "incentivizes wage theft by rewarding bad behavior" by “bypassing the subcontractor completely."
Leave it to CoC to offend by trying to look like they're being woke. Making the contractor pay forces them to vet their subs more carefully. But CoC would never admit to such clean logic, would they?
A law giving the boss the right to take tips and give them to all workers in reality was a payroll subsidy, leaving bade pay for servers statutory low, while the boss pledged to cycle the credit card generated tips for the greatest good for the greatest number", so it is no surprise to find the "greatest numbet" to be #1.
It's making us pay for play...and in truth it's wage theft. As you said, they use our tips to pay their payroll!! It should be illegal. Trump signed the bill allowing this, why hasn't Biden over turned this law that constitutes stealing from employees????? Help Judd!!!!
I believe that I found another form of wage theft from my summer job contractor. They automatically sign us up for a temporary form of health coverage at about $17 a week, unless we defer coverage. We are warned about it in advance, but the system to defer is not in place until a later, unspecified time. With the start of a new job, most people don't remember this charge until they see it coming out of the first paycheck and then cancel. Not a huge sum, but it adds up over several states.
Interesting. Would be good to know more about where that money goes. How can a legitimate company cover people for health insurance for so little— and it’s the small fee that helps you forget it’s even there, which is probably the strategy.
I am frequently critical of the Democratic Party as a whole, but it's no surprise that it's Democrats who are leading the charge on such worker-focused legislative efforts, not Republicans.
Criticism of the Democratic Party is different from criticism of the Republican Party. In the former, we moan deviation from core principles such as working towards a fair society and betterment of workers. Republicans, we condemn their core principles themselves because they are focused on driving people apart and on the betterment of the wealthiest among us.
I realize this is about wage theft in NY but people should realize it is rampant everywhere. Somewhat more difficult to pull off in a good economy if workers don’t mind changing employers.
Two of the most common types beyond restaurants are working “off the clock” and “misclassification.” In the first workers work with goals that cannot be met during their assigned work schedule and stay late (nurses too) take work home, pay for their own business travel …. In the second, workers are hired at a low classification and fulfill duties of classifications with a higher pay scale. Or should be hourly workers and are misclassified as contractors. Or are misclassified as management to avoid overtime pay.
All this is without considering legal loopholes in wage and hour (Fair Labor Standards Act) hours.
Lol at that final quote. Chambers of Commerce are such a joke. What the bill would truly incentivize is contractors vetting subcontractors and finding legitimate outfits that don't exploit workers and won't fold immediately at the first sign of legal trouble. If they'd prefer to exploit workers through subcontractors, they can be on the hook for the cost.
There’s a little known software feature in credit card software that enables restaurants to automatically deduct tips from credit card swipes. Ostensibly to “pool tips” so they can be shared but the truth is the restaurant owner can set the tip level and deduct the “tip” whether or not the waitstaff actually receive any tip at all. With more and more transactions being credit cards its a problem. Plus since only the owner knows how much “tip money” is being collected they have an irresistable urge to help themselves to the pot of money.
I’ve never seen that. I think it would be illegal because something is being added to your charges without your approval. Never had it happen without a disclaimer or request to approve a tip amount. People could challenge the charge - or are they not reading the receipt?
No, what I mean is when one adds the tip and signs that’s it. The software however can automatically take 15% or whatever off the charged amount, assuming a 15% tip and scrape it into a “tip bucket”. If the server gets no tip for example it still deducts the “tip”
I've always been suspicious about where that tip goes when I order from a local pizza place and pick it up. Are in fact all the tips somehow recorded by the owner and evenly divvied up to the workers? Does the guy who made my order get my tip? I always wonder if I'm being hoodwinked and the money just ends up in the owner's pocket, unreported.
I see, deduct it from the charge. So the tip is built into the prices? Tricky territory. The employees owe taxes on those tips. If it is all going to the owner I would think the owner is responsible to provide the tips earned with the minimal hourly wages earned. The owner is to report them to the gov’t to justify employees not being hourly wage earners. Could get complicated - OTOH the Chamber and business owners want less funding for IRS and state Revenue dept scrutiny and looser reporting laws.
It’s not built into the prices. Your charge on your credit card is for a total charge including tip. If the restaurant owner deducted 18% across the board and says that is the tip, if anyone gets a larger tip they don’t get it. If they get no tip it can be “pulled” from the employee without their knowledge.
States have different laws about tips and pools or ‘tip outs.’ All are supposed to comply with the feds and it gets complicated. In general the only thing that can be deducted from earned tips is credit card fees - unless there is a different system. Some states don’t allow mandatory pools or only allow if staff “voluntarily” agrees. ‘Tip outs” can be equally divided; or by job; or a predetermined employer % like a portion of sales.
I have trouble figuring out how this works. Particularly the “excess” tip that doesn’t go to the staff. All employees are to know what the system is before they accept employment. The state dept of labor, a labor attorney or UNITE (union) might be able to sort it out.
Good article. Now address wage theft in education. Teachers don’t get paid for the hours they are expected to put in above and beyond their contracted pay.
Good article. This makes me wonder what has happened in the child labor abuses? The uproar we say a while ago has died down but somehow I doubt that the abuses have stopped.
Excellent journalism. This follow-up adds in more information. Interestingly some time last year one of those teaser stories came up on social media that Boston Market might go out of business. (First saw the predicted demise of Bed, Bath and Beyond in one of those stories.)
There IS an arc bending towards justice. But sometimes it's hard to see. This is one of those times when that arc can be briefly seen thanks to our friends here at PI.
My guess is the MSM will be a day late and a dollar short, once again riding on Judd, Tesnim and Rebecca's coat-tails.
Do Americans care if it isn’t their pocket being robbed?
I didn’t see a big outcry over young children being discovered by the feds in meat plants. Or prison labor that makes people more valuable incarcerated than not. Americans want cheap food, services and products. A large percentage will give the ‘they can quit’ response. No outcry as the media reported on child labor laws being proposed — and really bad ones passed in states like Iowa and Arkansas.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/may/27/republican-iowa-governor-rolls-back-child-labor-law-protections
Then there is the lowering of the age for driver permits to 14-15. Usually adult supervision is required but not always. https://ktul.com/news/local/new-oklahoma-law-allows-farm-teens-to-drive-safety-concerns-arise-from-driving-school-limitations
Valid points all. And they all qualify as "wage theft" of another form, at least in my opinion!
Yes, but difficult to prove. That’s why some folks join unions which can represent employees for these grievances & have the clout to get the documentation from the employer.
Thinking: call out to cable news tv, also NBC, CBS, ABC, and all newspapers--and can we imagine the WSJ addressing this issue?
Hahaha. The WSJ would address this issue from the wrong side of the lens.
Thank you Tesnim and Rebecca for persevering the examination of how corporations fleece their poorest employees. I wonder how many of these employees speak only Spanish, our immigrants seeking the American Dream, hoping to avoid persecution in their native countries. Why is it that only the Blue states with Democrat Governors seem to be the only ones to enact laws that hold the thieving businesses to account? Let's acknowledge Kathy Hochul NY, Phil Murphy NJ, Gavin Newsome CA, Jared Polis CO, and hopefully others who have taken on this grievous injustice to a large portion of our population. These people include those who say, "Well, Joe Biden has done nothing for me" and count for those who don't support him. He hired a woman who is taking this problem as one of her missions--the victimized people don't know this.
And what is the purpose of the Chamber of Commerce? to promote fraud and fleecing by those who own the businesses?
Because many of the other states don’t have enough residents who care. About 20 states have been reducing protections against child labor so they sure don’t care about adults.
Thank you Judd! Just more proof of what lower taxes and deregulation is doing to the working class....less freedom and higher costs.
Thank you for this piece!
In a statement, the Colorado Chamber of Commerce claims the bill "incentivizes wage theft by rewarding bad behavior" by “bypassing the subcontractor completely."
Leave it to CoC to offend by trying to look like they're being woke. Making the contractor pay forces them to vet their subs more carefully. But CoC would never admit to such clean logic, would they?
A law giving the boss the right to take tips and give them to all workers in reality was a payroll subsidy, leaving bade pay for servers statutory low, while the boss pledged to cycle the credit card generated tips for the greatest good for the greatest number", so it is no surprise to find the "greatest numbet" to be #1.
It's making us pay for play...and in truth it's wage theft. As you said, they use our tips to pay their payroll!! It should be illegal. Trump signed the bill allowing this, why hasn't Biden over turned this law that constitutes stealing from employees????? Help Judd!!!!
I believe that I found another form of wage theft from my summer job contractor. They automatically sign us up for a temporary form of health coverage at about $17 a week, unless we defer coverage. We are warned about it in advance, but the system to defer is not in place until a later, unspecified time. With the start of a new job, most people don't remember this charge until they see it coming out of the first paycheck and then cancel. Not a huge sum, but it adds up over several states.
Interesting. Would be good to know more about where that money goes. How can a legitimate company cover people for health insurance for so little— and it’s the small fee that helps you forget it’s even there, which is probably the strategy.
I am frequently critical of the Democratic Party as a whole, but it's no surprise that it's Democrats who are leading the charge on such worker-focused legislative efforts, not Republicans.
Criticism of the Democratic Party is different from criticism of the Republican Party. In the former, we moan deviation from core principles such as working towards a fair society and betterment of workers. Republicans, we condemn their core principles themselves because they are focused on driving people apart and on the betterment of the wealthiest among us.
I realize this is about wage theft in NY but people should realize it is rampant everywhere. Somewhat more difficult to pull off in a good economy if workers don’t mind changing employers.
Two of the most common types beyond restaurants are working “off the clock” and “misclassification.” In the first workers work with goals that cannot be met during their assigned work schedule and stay late (nurses too) take work home, pay for their own business travel …. In the second, workers are hired at a low classification and fulfill duties of classifications with a higher pay scale. Or should be hourly workers and are misclassified as contractors. Or are misclassified as management to avoid overtime pay.
All this is without considering legal loopholes in wage and hour (Fair Labor Standards Act) hours.
Lol at that final quote. Chambers of Commerce are such a joke. What the bill would truly incentivize is contractors vetting subcontractors and finding legitimate outfits that don't exploit workers and won't fold immediately at the first sign of legal trouble. If they'd prefer to exploit workers through subcontractors, they can be on the hook for the cost.
There’s a little known software feature in credit card software that enables restaurants to automatically deduct tips from credit card swipes. Ostensibly to “pool tips” so they can be shared but the truth is the restaurant owner can set the tip level and deduct the “tip” whether or not the waitstaff actually receive any tip at all. With more and more transactions being credit cards its a problem. Plus since only the owner knows how much “tip money” is being collected they have an irresistable urge to help themselves to the pot of money.
That's not generally true. The tip is reflected in any purchase even if it's on the check already, it appears on credit card slip
I’ve never seen that. I think it would be illegal because something is being added to your charges without your approval. Never had it happen without a disclaimer or request to approve a tip amount. People could challenge the charge - or are they not reading the receipt?
No, what I mean is when one adds the tip and signs that’s it. The software however can automatically take 15% or whatever off the charged amount, assuming a 15% tip and scrape it into a “tip bucket”. If the server gets no tip for example it still deducts the “tip”
I've always been suspicious about where that tip goes when I order from a local pizza place and pick it up. Are in fact all the tips somehow recorded by the owner and evenly divvied up to the workers? Does the guy who made my order get my tip? I always wonder if I'm being hoodwinked and the money just ends up in the owner's pocket, unreported.
I see, deduct it from the charge. So the tip is built into the prices? Tricky territory. The employees owe taxes on those tips. If it is all going to the owner I would think the owner is responsible to provide the tips earned with the minimal hourly wages earned. The owner is to report them to the gov’t to justify employees not being hourly wage earners. Could get complicated - OTOH the Chamber and business owners want less funding for IRS and state Revenue dept scrutiny and looser reporting laws.
It’s not built into the prices. Your charge on your credit card is for a total charge including tip. If the restaurant owner deducted 18% across the board and says that is the tip, if anyone gets a larger tip they don’t get it. If they get no tip it can be “pulled” from the employee without their knowledge.
States have different laws about tips and pools or ‘tip outs.’ All are supposed to comply with the feds and it gets complicated. In general the only thing that can be deducted from earned tips is credit card fees - unless there is a different system. Some states don’t allow mandatory pools or only allow if staff “voluntarily” agrees. ‘Tip outs” can be equally divided; or by job; or a predetermined employer % like a portion of sales.
I have trouble figuring out how this works. Particularly the “excess” tip that doesn’t go to the staff. All employees are to know what the system is before they accept employment. The state dept of labor, a labor attorney or UNITE (union) might be able to sort it out.
Good article. Now address wage theft in education. Teachers don’t get paid for the hours they are expected to put in above and beyond their contracted pay.
And, all those supplies they buy for the classroom because somehow the school districts don't plan that in their budgets!
What a long fight and a slow burn toward justice - thanks for what you do, Judd and team!
Good article. This makes me wonder what has happened in the child labor abuses? The uproar we say a while ago has died down but somehow I doubt that the abuses have stopped.
Thanks Tesnim and Rebecca. I like how you ended this post with a great example of Doublespeak from the Kleptocracies de facto Department of Defense.
Excellent journalism. This follow-up adds in more information. Interestingly some time last year one of those teaser stories came up on social media that Boston Market might go out of business. (First saw the predicted demise of Bed, Bath and Beyond in one of those stories.)
So I went to Google just now. https://zacjohnson.com/is-boston-market-going-out-of-business/
Johnson is a business and industry analyst and blogger. A good companion information to this report.
Thanks Judd and crew for another story that the MSM missed.