NYDailyNews: Time to come to aid of city's most vulnerable residents and wage war on unpaid wages

Wage theft is exploitation at its worst and, unfortunately, in New York it is a veritable crime wave.

Not surprisingly, most victims are the city's most vulnerable residents: its low-wage and immigrant laborers.

The story of Luis Olivo, who for seven years worked at a Bronx supermarket without receiving a salary - is a perfect example of the outrageous abuses committed with impunity every day by dishonest employers.

"I worked at Fine Fare supermarket from 7:30a.m. until 9 p.m. with half an hour break, six days a week," said Olivo, 45, a Dominican immigrant who came to New York in 1990. "They never paid me anything; I only worked for tips. There were five baggers and Fine Fare never paid any of us."

Make the Road New York, a nonprofit…

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2010/11/11/2010-11-11_time_to_wage_war_on_unpaid_wages.html#ixzz14zBpu2EY

 

 

People's World: New report highlights wage theft

Whether in Kansas, Florida, Iowa, New York, California, or places in between, if you are a low wage worker, you are at high risk for wage theft - unpaid, delayed or subminimum wag­es. A long list of recent stories in the mainstream press has highlighted such practices - with Asian Pacific Islander, African American, Latino and young workers the likeliest targets - and the fight-back growing stronger.

One such fight-back is being waged here. The San Francisco-based Chinese Progressive Associa­tion last month released a far-reaching report on the problems faced by restaurant workers in this city’s Chinatown, based on surveys of 433 restau­rant workers interviewed by their peers, and ob­servations of 106 restaurants.

The study, “Check Please”, conducted in partnership with the San Francisco

 

http://www.peoplesworld.org/assets/Printable-Editions/11-05chi.pdf

 

Wage Theft: The Crime Wave No One Talks About

HuffPost: Albany: Last Chance to Stop the Wage Thieves

It's difficult to imagine anything more basic to a free economy than the right of an employee to be paid for his or her work. Yet this fundamental right is violated in New York's low-wage industries as a matter of routine. Research from the National Employment Law Project concludes that a fifth of the city's low-wage workers - an estimated 317,200 working New Yorkers - are paid less than the minimum wage in a given week. Even more are cheated out of the tips they've earned, their overtime pay, or the meal breaks they're legally entitled to. It's not a case of a few "bad apples" but a well-documented, pervasive pattern of wage theft throughout the city.

In March, I wrote about powerful state legislation drafted and promoted by community organization Make the Road New York to cut the state's epidemic of wage theft. The Wage Theft Prevention Act stiffens penalties for cheating employees out of wages, encourages workers to come forward, and provides new avenues for investigating and prosecuting wage theft cases - and ensuring violators will pay up. …

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amy-traub/albany-last-chance-to-sto_b_781736.html

 

 

Kansas.com: Labor leaders told "wage theft" a growing problem in Wichita area

The poor economy has prompted some employers to cut back on expenses by cheating workers out of pay, a group of labor leaders gathered Saturday in Wichita was told.

Representatives of the state and federal Departments of Labor were on hand when Sunflower Community Action held a meeting on what it called a growing problem with "wage theft."

The meeting drew more than 50 people, including a half-dozen state legislators, to Horace Mann Elementary School at 1243 N. Market.

A group of Sunflower Community Action members and other activists said wage law violations were more common that most people think.

Javier Garcia said he's seen many cases in which workers have been denied wages they had coming to them.

"The problem we're talking about — wage theft and labor abuse — happens every day, right here in Wichita," he said.

Sulma Arias said the poor economy has made the problem worse.

Read more: http://www.kansas.com/2010/10/23/1555418/labor-leaders-told-wage-theft.html#ixzz13OKKSrk7

KTKA49:Labor officials to hold Kansas wage theft hearing

Wichita — Federal and state labor officials will be in Wichita on Saturday for a hearing on the problem of wage theft.

The hearing is one of five being held around the country.

The U.S. Labor Department is looking into violations of minimum wage and overtime laws. It also wants to hear from workers forced to work off the clock, and from those misclassified workers as independent contractors.

Saturday's hearing is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Wichita's Horace Mann Elementary School.

The other hearings Other hearings are being held in Michigan, Rhode Island Iowa and Massachusetts.

http://www.ktka.com/news/2010/oct/22/labor-officials-hold-kansas-wage-theft-hearing/

 

WPTV: Palm Beach County considers new 'wage theft' rules aimed at helping shortchanged workers

PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. - For Palm Beach County's most vulnerable workers, a day's work doesn't always result in a day's pay.

Whether it is day laborers who receive less than promised after a day at a construction site or hotel cleanup-crews shortchanged after handling an extra shift, low-income local workers need more protection, according to a collection of local congregations pushing for a new "wage theft" law.

On Tuesday, People Engaged in Active Community Efforts, known as PEACE, convinced the Palm Beach County Commission to move forward with a wage-theft ordinance that would give workers new recourse when they don't receive the money they earned from jobs large and small.

http://www.wptv.com/dpp/news/region_c_palm_beach_county/west_palm_beach/palm-beach-county-considers-new-%27wage-theft%27-rules-aimed-at-helping-shortchanged-workers