Workplace Blog: Why Are Millions of Workers Excluded From Minimum Wages?

The United States is a country where hard work is supposed to be rewarded. If you agree with that, would you be shocked to learn that there are more than 1.6 million homecare workers who are being denied federal minimum wage and overtime protections under current labor laws? And it is almost 2011!

Chew on this for a minute: More than 1 million hardworking Americans are legally denied basic labor rights most of us take for granted at this point. How did that happen, what can we do to change that?

It all goes back to The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which was enacted in 1938 to ensure a minimum standard of living for workers through the provision of minimum wage, overtime pay, and other protections – yet, domestic workers were excluded.

In 1974 the FLSA was amended to include domestic workers, such as housekeepers, full-time nannies, chauffeurs, and cleaners. However, people who were described as “companions to the elderly or infirm” were for some reason excluded from the law. They were compared to babysitters…

http://www.todaysworkplace.org/2010/09/30/why-are-millions-of-workers-excluded-from-minimum-wages/

 

SalemNews: Border Activists Target Dollar Store Chain

An El Paso group is now reaching out to potential allies in other cities as it expands the campaign against Family Dollar’s labor policies.

(LAS CRUCES, N.M.) - For more than an hour, business slowed to a trickle at the Family Dollar store in downtown El Paso. Chanting slogans and hoisting signs, a few dozen picketers marched in disciplined, circular formation on the sidewalk in front of the popular discount store on Stanton Street.

Organized by El Paso’s new Retail Workers Rights Committee (RWRC), the protesters demanded that Family Dollar respect workers rights, stop mistreating managers in order to avoid paying overtime and limit managers’ schedules to 52 hours per week. Staging its demonstration during peak Saturday business hours, the RWRC passed out leaflets that read: “Family Dollar Is Not Family Friendly.”

“What makes me do this protest is people don’t know their rights,” said Abel Lopez, former El Paso Family Dollar manager an…

http://www.salem-news.com/articles/october182010/target-protest-kp.php

 

 

CJonline: Wage theft hearing planned

WICHITA — Officials from the U.S. Department of Labor will be in Wichita on Saturday for a hearing on the issue of wage theft.

Kansas is one of five states where the agency is holding field hearings on the issue.

Saturday's hearing starts at 1 p.m. at Horace Mann Magnet School.

The event is sponsored by Sunflower Community Action.

Kansas Labor Secretary Jim Garner is expected to take part, along with the U.S. Labor Department's Midwest regional administrator, Karen Chaikan.

http://cjonline.com/news/state/2010-10-18/wage_theft_hearing_planned

 

DesMoinesRegister: Iowa wage theft laws lag U.S. push, critics say

The federal government and many states, including Iowa, have increased enforcement of wage theft in recent years.

But critics say Iowa's laws have fallen behind a national push to punish employers who don't pay employees for the hours they work.

Employers can be fined $500 for each violation, which can include not paying full wages and overtime, according to Iowa code. Some states, as a result of laws enacted this year, award three times that amount against companies that deny workers overtime wages.

"We have really, really weak penalties," said state Sen. Joe Bolkcom, a Democrat from Iowa City who has proposed legislation to strengthen Iowa's wage laws.

Since 2009, five states have increased funding, and stiffened penalties for employers who don't pay minimum wage or overtime. The new laws also…

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20101018/NEWS05/10180325/-1/ANKENY/Iowa-wage-theft-laws-lag-U.S.-push-critics-say

 

 

Citizen Times: Iowa workers feel pay theft pinch

Rent was due, and the construction workers were out of options.

So the six men who live in Des Moines pooled money for gasoline, piled into a car and drove west. When they arrived at their boss' suburban home, they demanded thousands of dollars in unpaid wages owed them.

Their demands, made in August, were initially unsuccessful.

"It was only fair," said Pedro, 32, of Mexico, through an interpreter. "I mean, we had done the work."

 

The Euro Masonry workers, who quit their jobs this month, provided only their first names to The Des Moines Register because they are working in the United States illegally and fear deportation.

In the past year, the federal government has investigated an increasing number of wage theft cases in an effort to prevent billions in lost worker pay and…

http://www.citizen-times.com/article/D2/20101017/NEWS05/10170352/Iowa-workers-feel-pay-theft-pinch

 

 

NYT: Car Wash to Pay Workers $1.7 Million in Owed Wages

A car wash in Upper Manhattan agreed to pay its employees more than $1.7 million for five years worth of underpaid wages, under a settlement announced Tuesday by the state Labor Department.

The car wash, Broadway Bridge Wash & Lube at Broadway and 220th Street, routinely cheated its workers, who usually worked 72 hours a week, out of overtime wages and tips from 2003 to 2008, the Labor Department said. Some earned as little as $3.75 an hour, which was $3 below minimum wage at the time, the department said.

Broadway Bridge also agreed to pay $215,000 in penalties to the Labor Department. The settlement stemmed from a statewide investigation of car washes that the Labor Department undertook in 2008. It found that in New York City, as many as 78 percent of car washes violated minimum-wage and overtime laws. A call to the operators of Broadway Bridge — David Winter, Ehud Cafri and Ori Apple — was not immediately returned.

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/12/car-wash-to-pay-workers-1-7-million-in-owed-wages/?emc=eta1

 

Miami New Times: Sixteen Miami-Dade Businesses You Might Not Want to Work For

What do a Christian preschool, a pizzeria, a sod company, and the Tourist Office of Spain have in common?

They've all been caught shortchanging their staff, according to documents obtained by the New Times. But thanks to the Miami-Dade's new Wage Theft Program, those and 12 other companies have voluntarily paid out over $25,000 to current and former employees in the past five months.

Follow the jump to see a full list, including the pay-outs:….

http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2010/10/sixteen_miami-dade_businesses.php