Combating Wage Theft

When we put in the hours, our paychecks should reflect our hard work. But in our current economy employers can rob people of the wages they deserve. Employers steal wages when they fail to pay overtime, pay less than the minimum wage, illegally deduct work-related costs from paychecks, instruct employees to work off the clock, and, in some cases, fail to pay workers at all. In order to conceal their wage theft and discourage workers from speaking out, employers often intimidate, retaliate against, or harass workers. They also falsify wage records and misclassify employees as independent contractors to avoid the protections of employment law. 

While wage theft impacts workers of all income levels, low-wage workers—often people of color and immigrants—are disproportionately affected. For people already earning low wages, cuts to a paycheck can mean they are no longer able to feed their families, cover rent, or pay bills—forcing families to make difficult trade-offs among their basic needs.

To ensure that workers are paid the wages they’ve worked hard for, CPD and our affiliates are advocating for a number of key policies:

• Real consequences for employers that violate the law, including stiff penalties, criminal sanctions, and ineligibility for government contracts

• Strong anti-retaliation provisions to protect workers who come forward about mistreatment

• Preserving workers’ access to courts and their ability to pursue justice collectively

• Protections for undocumented workers, whose vulnerability makes them an easy target for unscrupulous employers

• Adequate government resources for strategic enforcement of wage and hour laws

• Ensuring that workers can actually collect their stolen wages from thieving employers

• Holding big corporations accountable when they allow their subcontractors to commit wage theft

• Partnerships between government agencies and worker organizations to educate workers about their rights and help them fight violations

• Protection against arbitrary firings, which are often used to silence workers from complaining about worksite violations