WHEN A WORKER'S SALARY IS LIGHTER
Many employers are involved in wage theft, an unspoken nationwide crime wave

KIM BOBO AND BRIAN O'SHAUGHNESSY
Times Union, Albany, NY, Section: Perspective,  Page: B1
Date: Sunday, March 29, 2009

A man works all day at a construction site, but his employer refuses to pay him. A woman toils at a nail salon 12 hours a day, six or seven days a week, and is paid less than $3 an hour. Men and women get fired and never receive their last paycheck.

Wage theft, the illegal stealing of workers' wages by unethical employers, has become a national epidemic. Between 2 million and 3 million workers are not paid the minimum wage, 3 million workers are misclassified as independent contractors instead of employees, and untold millions are cheated out of overtime pay. Billions of dollars are stolen annually from millions of workers.

This unspoken crime wave was the focus of the New York State Labor Religion Coalition's 40-hour fast earlier this month. The fast, observed by religious and labor leaders across the state, draws attention to a serious problem faced by workers in New York.

Most wage theft is underpayment of the minimum wage and overtime. One New York City restaurant paid its 36 delivery workers less than $2 an hour and deducted fines for slamming the door. An investigation of backstretch workers at Saratoga Race Course last summer found widespread violations of minimum wage and overtime laws.

Sometimes workers don't get paid at all. The state Labor Department found, for example, that bathroom attendants employed by a maintenance company at a county fair in western New York were not paid. Even worse, they were forced to turn over half of their tips.

Making illegal deductions from paychecks is another form of wage theft. Sometimes new immigrants are housed in employer-controlled housing and excessive deductions are taken for ramshackle living conditions. More often, employers deduct for transportation, food or fines that bring workers' paychecks below minimum wage.

Misclassifying workers as independent contractors when they are really employees steals from both workers and the public coffers. When workers are paid as independent contractors, the employer does not pay overtime, unemployment insurance, workers compensation insurance or the employer-share of payroll taxes. This means that if a worker is laid off or injured, that person is not protected by the employer and will draw on taxpayer supported programs. Residential construction workers, drivers and couriers, part-time radio interviewers and even dancers in gentlemen's clubs are commonly misclassified. In 2007, New York formed a Joint Enforcement Task Force on Employee Misclassification. It has assessed more than $4.8 million in unemployment insurance taxes and more than $1.1 million in unemployment insurance fraud penalties due he state.

Despite this crime wave's pervasiveness, there are things individuals and institutions can do. Individuals should watch their paychecks. There are many ethical and trustworthy employers, but not everything employers say about paychecks should be believed. Find out more by visiting http://www.CanMyBossDoThat.com, a Web site that explains employee rights in clear language.

If you believe you've been cheated of your wages or are misclassified as an independent contractor, contact the state Labor Department at (888) 469-7365, or by e-mail at nysdol@labor.state.ny.us.

All workers, regardless of immigration status, are covered by most labor laws. The Labor Department assures workers that it will not report immigration status to immigration authorities.

New York has one of the nation's most effective and creative state labor enforcement agencies, which is why President Barack Obama nominated its commissioner, M. Patricia Smith, as his solicitor of labor. The agency's new partnership with workers centers and community organizations is a model for the nation.

In 2008, the department dispersed a record $24.6 million to 17,000 New York workers whose wages were illegally "underpaid." But given this crime wave, the department is woefully understaffed.

Workers also can ask religious leaders to organize worker rights training sessions or teach about their faith tradition's views on paying workers. The New York State Labor-Religion Coalition (http:// www.labor-religion.org.) is ready to assist.

Wage theft is indeed an unspoken crime wave. But we can it if we give our wage police the resources they need, if we educate workers and if we engage the broader community, especially the religious community.

Wage theft must be stopped.

Kim Bobo is the executive director of Interfaith Worker Justice in Chicago and the author of "Wage Theft in America: Why Millions of Working Americans are not Getting Paid and What We Can Do About It." Brian O'Shaughnessy is the executive director of the New York State Labor Religion Coalition in Latham.

Last Updated:03/30/2009
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