I first learned the term “time theft” when I read Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, a first-hand account of low-wage work. Her last job was working for Wal-Mart, and she was told that any time she spent speaking to a co-worker, or going to the bathroom, or just caching her breath was “time theft” from her employer.
Reading Steven Greenhouse’s 2008 book, The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker, I learned another term – “wage theft” - which is about how employers coerce employees into working unpaid overtime or falsify their records so as not to pay for all hours worked.
I knew that undocumented workers – illegal immigrants – constituted an underclass outside the protection of U.S. law that could be exploited at will. I knew that salaried “professionals” – programmers, college instructors, journalists, lawyers – often worked 60 hours or more a week, sometimes voluntarily but often not. And I knew that companies found ways to redefine employees as managers or independent contractors to avoid having to obey labor laws.
http://philebersole.wordpress.com/2010/09/11/tough-times-2-wage-theft-and-other-crimes/
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