This Week in Poverty: Wage Theft in the City of Millionaires

[xchrom]

http://www.thenation.com/blog/168066/week-poverty-wage-theft-city-millionaires

For two years running Houston has added more millionaires to its population than any other city in the US. Near-millionaires are enjoying some nice upward mobility, especially those involved in the oil and gas industry.

Low-wage workers, on the other hand, aren’t faring too well in the city. In fact, a recent report from Houston Interfaith Worker Justice (HIWJ) estimates that low-wage workers lose $753.2 million annually due to wage theft. Wage theft can occur in many ways, including: workers being denied the minimum wage or overtime pay; stolen tips; illegal deductions from paychecks; people being forced to work off the clock; or workers getting misclassified as independent contractors so they aren’t entitled to overtime or benefits.

“We’re not talking about a worker here or a worker there, it’s something that has a lot of ripple effects,” says José Eduardo Sanchez, campaign organizer with HIWJ. “It impacts families, communities, and local economies.”

Although there are laws on the books against wage theft, there are problems with understaffing, enforcement, and jurisdiction disputes in institutions like the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, the Texas Workforce Commission, and the courts.

[PDJane]

1. The reason for the millionaires is theft.

Wage theft, underpaid workers, tax boondoggles....and just plain fraud.

[CrispyQ]

2. I have a corporate client who gives their employees 'hours earned' instead of overtime.

They also round time worked in 15 minute increments on a daily basis, so if the employee works 8 hours & 14 minutes one day, they get credit for 8 hours only. The 14 minutes doesn't even go into time earned because time earned is only calculated on the weekly total.

I worked my way through college with a good paying union job & when I hear shit like this, I am so thankful for unions! I cannot believe how many working class Americans have been brainwashed to dislike unions. I just don't get it.

I just sent Tom Barrett a donation in hopes of getting that POS Walker out of office & send everyone this country a message: Stop fucking with working people!