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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
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Results for worker exploitation
16 results foundAuthor: Allamby, Les Title: Forced Labour in Northern Ireland: Exploiting Vulnerability Summary: In 2009 the British Government passed a law criminalising exploitation through forced labour, however this remains a poorly understood issue and has not been regarded as a significant problem in Northern Ireland. This report reviews migrants’ experiences in a range of employment sectors, in which serious forms of exploitation, including indications of forced labour, have come to light. The report: identifies problems of forced labour among migrants working in • the fishing, mushroom and catering industries and among Filipino and Romanian Roma migrants; highlights the links between vulnerability and a lack of English • language skills, limited access to social networks and a lack of local knowledge; shows that people will put up with very poor working conditions • and exploitation because the situation at home is worse; explains the importance of migrants’ legal status;• shows the importance of community-based support networks • and access to advice and information for exploited migrants; and finds a need to raise awareness of the issues of forced labour • among trade unions, employers’ bodies and within key government departments. Details: York, UK: Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2011. 70p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 27, 2011 at: http://www.jrf.org.uk/sites/files/jrf/forced-labour-Northern-Ireland-full.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.jrf.org.uk/sites/files/jrf/forced-labour-Northern-Ireland-full.pdf Shelf Number: 121867 Keywords: Forced Labor (Northern Ireland)ImmigrantsMigrantsWorker Exploitation |
Author: Labour Rights Clinic Title: Modern Slavery: A Study of Labour Conditions in Yangon's Industrial Zones 2012-2013 Summary: A report by Construction-based Labor Union, Cooperation Program of Independent Laborers, Labour Rights Clinic, Workers Support Group and other labour rights groups highlighting how violations of workers' rights, including long work hours and low wages, oppression of labour unions, unsafe working conditions, lack of protection for women workers, minimum legal protection and corruption, have created a culture of modern slavery. The report also offers insight into the daily life and struggle of workers and how Myanmar's current legal framework is unable to protect their rights and how employers exploit workers by paying bribes to authorities and imposing crippling restrictions on unions. Workers in Yangon's (Rangoon) 13 industrial zones work in unsafe, hot, overcrowded factories, typically for around 11 hours per day, 6 days per week. Despite new labour unions, workers' rights are not adequately protected by law. Striking workers and labour activists are routinely threatened, intimidated, or dismissed by employers. Details: Burma: Labour Rights Clinic, 2013. 45p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 24, 2014 at: http://burmacampaign.org.uk/media/Modern-Slavery.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Burma URL: http://burmacampaign.org.uk/media/Modern-Slavery.pdf Shelf Number: 132171 Keywords: Human RightsWorker Exploitation |
Author: Jarman, Neil Title: Forced Labour in Northern Ireland: An Update Summary: This research updates a 2011 study for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation called Forced labour in Northern Ireland. It investigates the prevalence of forced labour over the past few years and looks at how the issue is being addressed. The research: ◾finds evidence of exploitation in more employment sectors than the 2011 report identified, suggesting the number of people affected by forced labour in Northern Ireland is growing; ◾identifies what progress has been made in tackling forced labour since 2011 and what challenges remain; ◾makes a number of recommendations to government, including specific changes to policies and approaches. Details: York, UK: Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 2014. 30p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 12, 2015 at: http://www.jrf.org.uk/sites/files/jrf/Forced-Labour-Northern-Ireland-FULL.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.jrf.org.uk/sites/files/jrf/Forced-Labour-Northern-Ireland-FULL.pdf Shelf Number: 134618 Keywords: Forced Labor (Northern Ireland) Immigrants Migrants Worker Exploitation |
Author: European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) Title: Severe labour exploitation: workers moving within or into the European Union - States' obligations and victims' rights Summary: Worker exploitation is not an isolated or marginal phenomenon. But despite its pervasiveness in everyday life, severe labour exploitation and its adverse effects on third-country nationals and EU citizens - as workers, but also as consumers - have to date not received much attention from researchers. The extensive fieldwork and desk research carried out by FRA for the report is the first to look comprehensively into various criminal forms of severe labour exploitation of workers who move from one EU Member State to another or from a third country. It aims to fill the knowledge gap, thus challenging the current climate of implicit acceptance of severe labour exploitation. The report identifies risk factors contributing to such exploitation and discusses means of improving the situation. It highlights the challenges faced by EU institutions and Member States in making the right of workers who have moved within or into the EU to decent working conditions a reality. It aims to support them in preventing severe labour exploitation, monitoring situations where severe labour exploitation occurs and making victims' right to have access to justice a reality. An EU-level consensus is needed which states that severe labour exploitation is unacceptable and that all workers are entitled to the effective protection of their rights. If the EU and its Member States are serious about maintaining national and international labour standards, accepting systemic labour exploitation is not an option. Details: Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2015. 108p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 13, 2015 at: http://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra-2015-severe-labour-exploitation_en.pdf Year: 2015 Country: Europe URL: http://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra-2015-severe-labour-exploitation_en.pdf Shelf Number: 136007 Keywords: Forced LaborLabor ExploitationWorker Exploitation |
Author: Hedwards, Bodean Title: Labour exploitation in the Australian construction industry: risks and protections for temporary migrant workers Summary: There have been a number of alleged cases of labour exploitation involving temporary migrant workers in Australia since the late 1990s. The Australian construction industry was identified as particularly problematic, with allegations of deception in relation to work contracts, lack of compliance with employment standards, limited autonomy and threats of abuse levelled. In response to these concerns, the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart Josephite Counter- Trafficking Project and the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney commissioned the Australian Institute of Criminology to undertake research on labour exploitation in the Australian construction industry, with a particular focus on temporary migrant workers. Details: Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, 2017. 54p. Source: Internet Resource: AIC Research report 02: Accessed March 10, 2017 at: http://aic.gov.au/publications/current%20series/rr/rr002.html Year: 2017 Country: Australia URL: http://aic.gov.au/publications/current%20series/rr/rr002.html Shelf Number: 144447 Keywords: Construction Industry Labor Exploitation Migrant Workers Worker Exploitation |
Author: Sen, Aditi Title: By A Thousand Cuts: The Complex Face of Wage Theft in New York Summary: An estimated 2.1 million New Yorkers are victims of wage theft annually, cheated out of a cumulative $3.2 billion in wages and benefits they are owed. In recent years-at least as far back as the passage of the New York Wage Theft Prevention Act of 2010, through 2015, when a series of New York Times articles explored the shocking extent of wage theft and other workplace abuses in the nail salon industry-mainstream elected officials and the press alike have turned meaningful attention to the problem of wage theft in New York State and nationwide. The question is what remains to be done. This brief study does not attempt to answer that question fully, but begins the inquiry by delving into the shape that wage theft takes in New York City and statewide. Case studies in this report focus on particular employers that low-wage worker advocates have identified as illustrating broader problems in sectors where wage theft is prevalent. Though this study is merely an entry point to a much broader and deeper analysis, our results point to some common-sense first steps in improving wage theft enforcement in New York City, New York State, and beyond. Recommendations include the following: - City, state and federal government should invest in rigorous social science and economic research to evaluate what types of education, enforcement, penalties, and damages are most successful in encouraging workers and others to blow the whistle on wage theft, compensating directly impacted workers, and deterring and reducing wage theft. - Our legislative and regulatory approach to penalizing wage theft and retaliation should be reevaluated to take into account the impact that wage theft and retaliation have not only on the directly impacted workers but also on competing employers, entire geographic areas, sectors, and the economy. - Outreach, education, and enforcement efforts need to be tailored to address the specific situations of certain sectors, ethnic groups, and communities. -- Government should partner with, and resource, community-based partners who have established trust in hard-to-reach communities of workers and employers. -- Government should partner with community and labor organizations with expertise in specific sectors and types of wage theft, to assist in bringing forward adequate and accurate testimony and evidence to evaluate compliance in that sector or type of employer. -- Government inspectors and investigators should receive regular training in sector-specific practices in order to rigorously evaluate testimony and facts presented by employees and employers for reasonability. - Government enforcement needs to explore substantial regulatory, legislative and strategic changes to enable collection of unpaid wages, damages and penalties. -- Pilot projects should aggressively test the use of bonds in exploitative industries, the ability of courts and the Department of Labor (DOL) to freeze assets pre-judgment, and wage liens. -- Public procurement rules should prohibit convicted wage thieves from bidding on public contracts or dispositions at the federal, state and local level, or from receiving public subsidy, with permanent removal from bidding or eligibility lists in cases of egregious wage theft. Details: New York: Center for popular Democracy, 2015. 24p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 24, 2017 at: https://populardemocracy.org/sites/default/files/WageTheft%2011162015%20Web.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: https://populardemocracy.org/sites/default/files/WageTheft%2011162015%20Web.pdf Shelf Number: 146369 Keywords: Financial Crime Labor Law Violations Wage Theft Worker Exploitation |
Author: Bernhardt, Annette Title: Working Without Laws: A Survey of Employment and Labor Law Violations in New York City Summary: This report exposes a world of work in which America's core labor and employment laws are failing to protect significant numbers of workers in the nation's largest city. These protections-the right to be paid at least the minimum wage, the right to be paid for overtime hours, the right to take meal breaks, access to workers' compensation when injured and the right to advocate for better working conditions-are being violated at alarming rates in the city's low-wage labor market. The sheer breadth of the problem, spanning key industries in the economy, as well as its profound impact on workers and their communities, entailing significant economic hardship, demand urgent attention. In 2008, we conducted a landmark survey of 1,432 workers in low-wage industries in New York City. We used an innovative, rigorous methodology that allowed us to reach vulnerable workers who often are missed in standard surveys, such as unauthorized immigrants and those paid in cash. Our goal was to obtain accurate and statistically representative estimates of the prevalence of workplace violations. All findings are adjusted to be representative of front-line workers (excluding managers, professional or technical workers) in low-wage industries in New York City-a population that we estimate numbers more than a half-million (586,322) workers. Details: New York: National Employment Law Project, 2010. 70p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 29, 2017 at: http://www.thenyic.org/sites/default/files/report_1_wi_0.pdf Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: . http://www.thenyic.org/sites/default/files/report_1_wi_0.pdf Shelf Number: 146464 Keywords: Employment ViolationsLabor LawsLabor ViolationsWorker ExploitationWorkplace Violations |
Author: Malhotra, Anjana Title: Ironbound Underground: Wage Theft and Workplace Violations Among Day Laborers in Newark's East Ward Summary: Day laborers are workers who are employed on a day-by-day, temporary basis. Each morning, at informal hiring sites throughout the country known as "shape-up sites," day laborers and employers negotiate short-term employment arrangements in an "open-air market." For employers, these day labor markets provide easy access to a large pool of workers that they can hire when needed and release them when not. While there is limited official information on the nature and size of the day laborer workforce, the United States Government Accounting Office ("U.S. GAO") and the 2004 National Day Labor Survey indicate that the day laborer community consists of mostly males with limited English proficiency that have recently migrated to the United States. Government reports and national surveys indicate that on any given day there are approximately 117,600 to 260,000 day laborers looking for work in the United States. Day laborers work in many different industries, including manual labor, construction, landscaping, moving, and food services. Homeowners also frequently employ day laborers for simple maintenance and home improvement projects. In the State of New Jersey, day laborers are entitled to the same legal protections that apply to all workers, regardless of immigration status. However, both federal government reports and the New Jersey Governor's Blue Ribbon Advisory Panel on Immigrant Policy have found that day laborers are among the most economically vulnerable workers. Day laborers are exposed to workplace abuses because they are often unaware of their rights, fearful of complaining to authorities, have limited English proficiency, and work in high risk jobs. U.S. government reports have also found that due to inadequate data on day laborers, state and local government agencies responsible for enforcing workplace laws have failed to appropriately investigate workplace violations or enforce day laborers' workplace rights. This report attempts to fill this information gap by profiling for the first time, the large contingent of day laborers that congregate daily in the Ironbound section of Newark to look for work. Following intake, and know your rights sessions, the Immigrant Workers' Rights Clinic ("IWR Clinic") at Seton Hall University Law School's Center for Social Justice systematically investigated and analyzed the status of day laborers in the Ironbound section of Newark for this comprehensive report. Between February and April 2010, the IWR Clinic under supervision of Anjana Malhotra and Bryan Lonegan studied the problem by engaging directly with community leaders, government officials, police officers, business owners, national and local experts, and the day laborers themselves. The IWR Clinic observed and documented conditions at the Ironbound site where workers gather for work each morning on a daily basis, regularly attended several of the day laborers' weekly meetings and conducted a survey of approximately half of the workers at the Ironbound site. As a result of its investigation, the IWR Clinic found that the Ironbound Day Laborers Endure a Significant Level of Workplace Violations, Especially in Wage Theft; the Financial Loss to the Workers Due to Wage Theft is Substantial; Workers Have Limited Recourse to Obtain Unpaid Wages; and Working Conditions and the Transient Nature of the Ironbound Shape-Up Site is Dangerous. Details: Newark: Seton Hall University School of Law, 2010. 28p. Source: Internet Resource: Seton Hall University School of Law 254274: Accessed February 14, 2018 at: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2413032 Year: 2010 Country: United States URL: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2413032 Shelf Number: 149148 Keywords: Day LaborersEconomic CrimesFinancial CrimesImmigrantsWage TheftWorker Exploitation |
Author: National Employment Law Project Title: Winning Wage Justice: An Advocate's Guide to State and City Policies to Fight Wage Theft Summary: By any measure, wage theft in America is threatening to become a defining trend of the 21st century labor market. In the past year alone, workers recovered tens of millions of dollars in unpaid wages from their employers in a range of industries. For example, Staples paid $42 million in illegally underpaid wages to its assistant store managers, New Jersey truck delivery drivers received $2 million in an unpaid overtime settlement, Walmart settled an unpaid wages case for $35 million in Washington State, and New York car wash workers received $3.5 million in unpaid overtime. Behind these high-profile cases sits a growing body of research that documents a broad and worsening wage theft crisis in America. In a landmark 2009 study, Broken Laws, Unprotected Workers, researchers surveyed more than 4,000 workers in low-wage industries in Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York, and found that 26 percent had been paid less than the minimum wage in the preceding week, and 76 percent had either been underpaid or not paid at all for their overtime hours. Dozens of studies by organizers and advocates in specific industries have uncovered similar rates of wage-related violations (as well as related health and safety, workers compensation, and right-to-organize violations). And in audits of employers in 1999 and 2000, the US Department of Labor (USDOL) found high rates of minimum wage, overtime and other violations across the country, including in 50 percent of Pittsburgh restaurants, 74 percent of Georgia day care centers, 50 percent of St. Louis nursing homes, 38 percent of Reno hotels and motels, and 47 percent of adult family homes in Seattle, to name just a few. Wage theft is not incidental, aberrant or rare, committed by a few rogue employers at the periphery of the labor market. It takes place in industries that span the economy- including retail, restaurants and grocery stores; caregiver industries such as home health care and domestic work; blue collar industries such as manufacturing, construction and wholesalers; building services such as janitorial and security; and personal services such as dry cleaning and laundry, car washes, and beauty and nail salons. Immigrants, women and people of color are particularly hard hit, although all workers are at risk of the many forms of wage theft: being paid less than the minimum wage, working off the clock without pay, getting less than time and a half for overtime hours, having tips stolen, and seeing illegal deductions taken out of paychecks. Minimum wage and overtime laws are the anchors of the employment relationship in the United States. They are the central vehicle by which public policy guarantees fundamental protections for workers. If we cede these most basic laws to rampant evasion and violation, we are effectively setting the clock back to the early 1900s, before the enactment of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), when the lack of any wage floor resulted in terrible working conditions. The wage theft crisis has many roots. Repercussions for violating the law are often not strong enough to dissuade employers, and declining resources and ineffective strategies by government enforcement agencies mean that employers have little fear of getting caught. Inadequate protections for workers who want to make claims of wage theft result in high rates of retaliation. And new forms of work and production, including outsourcing to subcontractors and misclassifying workers as independent contractors, have created confusion and allowed employers to move growing numbers of workers outside the reach of the law. The case for fighting wage theft is first and foremost about fairness and justice-but it is also about economics. There is the significant cost to workers and their families, which in one week alone is estimated to be $56.4 million in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles combined. There is the cost to taxpayers in lost revenues when employers fail to pay payroll taxes. There is the cost to our local economies, with fewer dollars circulating to local businesses, stunting economic recovery. And there is the cost to growth and opportunity as generations of workers are trapped in sub-minimum wage jobs. Every day, millions of responsible, profitable employers in this country comply with minimum wage and overtime laws. When we allow their unscrupulous competitors to undercut them on labor costs, we are starting a race to the bottom that will reverberate throughout the entire labor market in a cascading loss of good jobs. Everyone has a stake in this issue. Fighting wage theft is not about adding new burdens onto law-abiding employers. It is about smarter enforcement of laws that are already on the books, closing gaping loopholes and enacting stronger enforcement tools. In this guide, our goal is to support and build upon the surging grassroots energy around wage theft campaigns in cities and states across the country. Advocates are using high-profile street protests and new organizing strategies to target unscrupulous employers. They are mounting multi-year campaigns to update legal protections and set up new enforcement mechanisms. And they are pushing the issue of wage theft onto the airwaves, educating the public and lawmakers alike about the scale of the problem and how to fight it. In the process, they are creating strong, enduring coalitions of worker centers, unions, legal services groups, policy think tanks, and other low-wage worker advocates. By providing our allies a concrete menu of innovative policies to strengthen enforcement of minimum wage and overtime laws-as well as strategic guidance on identifying which policies make sense in a given community-our hope is that we help turn the tide and shift the American workplace from wage theft to wage justice. Details: New York: The Project, 2011. 136p. Source: Initernet Resource: Accessed October 24, 2018 at: https://s27147.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/WinningWageJustice2011.pdf Year: 2011 Country: United States URL: https://s27147.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/WinningWageJustice2011.pdf Shelf Number: 153081 Keywords: Economic CrimesFinancial Crime Labor Law Violations Wage Theft Worker Exploitation |
Author: Farbenblum, Bassina Title: Migrant Workers' Access to Justice at Home: Indonesia Summary: Each year, around half a million Indonesians travel abroad to work, half of those to the Middle East. Many are women who suffer abuse and exploitation when they work abroad but have virtually no access to recourse within their host country's legal system. The vulnerability of migrant workers abroad makes it crucial for them to be able to seek redress in their own countries. Migrant Workers' Access to Justice at Home: Indonesia is the first comprehensive study of migrant workers’ access to justice in their country of origin. A collaborative effort by the Open Society International Migration Initiative, the Tifa Foundation, and the Migrant Worker Access to Justice Project, the report analyzes how migrant workers may access justice in Indonesia, and identifies the systemic barriers that prevent them from receiving redress for harms they suffer before, during, and after their work abroad. The report also provides recommendations for improving access to justice and private sector accountability in 11 key areas, addressed to government, parliament, civil society, donors, and others. Migrant Workers' Access to Justice at Home: Indonesia is an important contribution to advancing the rights of migrant workers and will serve as a valuable guide for civil society groups in Indonesia and elsewhere to better understand, use, and test existing justice mechanisms to enforce migrant workers’ rights. Details: New York: Open Society Foundations, 2013. 192p. Source: Internet Resource: Migrant Workers' Access to Justice Series: Accessed November 20, 2018 at: https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/sites/default/files/migrant-worker-justice-indonesia-20131015.pdf Year: 2013 Country: Indonesia URL: https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/sites/default/files/migrant-worker-justice-indonesia-20131015.pdf Shelf Number: 153515 Keywords: Human Rights Labor Exploitation Labor Rights Migrant Workers Worker Exploitation |
Author: Center for Popular Democracy Title: A Practical Guide to Combatting Wage Theft: Lessons from the Field Summary: Wage theft - any instance of an employer failing to pay their employees the wages owed for work performed - continues to plague communities across the country. Every year unscrupulous employers steal billions of dollars from workers. Practices of wage theft include: - Paying less than the minimum wage - Failing to pay required overtime - Paying less than the promised wage - Misclassifying an employee as an independent contractor to avoid providing workers compensation, unemployment insurance, or an hourly wage - Deducting the cost of required uniforms or tools from paychecks - Failing to provide paid sick leave where required by law - Requiring uncompensated work "off the clock" The pervasiveness of wage theft, and its financial impact on workers, communities, businesses and local economies, is well documented. For example, a study by the National Employment Law Project (NELP) of nearly 4,500 low-wage workers in three major U.S. cities (New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles) found that: - Over two-thirds of low-wage workers had experienced wage theft in the previous work-week - Employers stole more than $56 million in workers' wages every week, which translates to nearly $3 billion in total annual wage theft If these findings are generalizable to the rest of the population, the Economic Policy Institute estimates that wage theft costs America's low-wage workers more than $50 billion each year. For many workers in the US, wage theft is the rule, not the exception. For low-wage workers especially, stolen wages mean that families struggle to pay the rent, put food on the table, buy school supplies for their children, or pay for needed medications. Workers and their families are not the only victims of wage theft, however. Employers who steal wages wield an unfair economic advantage over businesses that follow the law. They also rob the community of significant tax revenue. For example, it has been estimated that wage theft costs New York State as much as $427 million dollars in tax revenue each year. Wage theft is by definition unlawful, but legal remedies are often costly, time-consuming, and insufficient to deter employers from violating the law. Even when workers manage to win an unpaid wage case against their employers, they are often unable to collect the money due to inadequate enforcement. In California, more than $282 million was awarded for unpaid wages between 2008 and 2011, but only $42 million was ever collected from employers and distributed to victims of wage theft. The reality is that many employers commit wage theft with impunity. Increasing the consequences of wage theft for employers, improving the remedies available to workers, and strengthening wage theft enforcement tools are core strategies to realizing economic justice and respecting workers' dignity. Over the last decade, workers, advocates, and community leaders have developed a variety of strategies to combat wage theft in cities and states across the country. Campaigns have organized direct actions against employers and industries, fought for stronger legal protections at the state and local level, and advocated to improve enforcement of existing laws. Successful legislative campaigns have included, among other improvements: - Stricter penalties for violations - Stronger protections from employer retaliation - Increased funding for enforcement In spite of gains made around the country, however, wage theft remains rampant. Especially in this political moment, strong enforcement is critical to fighting the Trump administration's efforts to erode worker rights and protections. Details: New York: The Center, 2017. 121p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 20, 2018 at: https://populardemocracy.org/sites/default/files/WTHandbook-web_output%20%281%29.pdf Year: 2017 Country: United States URL: https://populardemocracy.org/sites/default/files/WTHandbook-web_output%20%281%29.pdf Shelf Number: 153517 Keywords: Economic Crimes Financial Crime Labor Law Violations Migrant Workers Wage Theft Worker Exploitation |
Author: Hernandez, Cynthia S. Title: Wage Theft: An Economic Drain on Florida. How Millions of Dollars are Stolen from Florida's Workforce Summary: This is the second in a series of reports monitoring the growing problem of wage theft in Florida. Using previously unanalyzed data from the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division and separate data from various community organizations, this report shows evidence of a widespread problem across a broad spectrum of industries in Florida. The industries especially impacted are those commonly thought of as the core of Florida's economy-tourism, retail trade, and construction. Moreover, it appears more likely to affect those workers who can least afford it. Workers who receive low wages seem to be more likely to have their wages stolen by employers and as demonstrated in this report this is a large number of people. But, even this data does not account for the full magnitude of the problem, as an unknown number of cases go unreported. Indeed, as data on wage theft accumulates, the more it becomes clear how widespread wage theft is in the state of Florida and throughout the state's industries. Wage theft is defined as workers not receiving wages that they are legally owed. It occurs in different forms including unpaid overtime, not being paid at least the minimum wage, working during meal breaks, misclassification of employees as independent contractors, forcing employees to work off the clock, altering time cards or pay stubs, illegally deducting money from employees' pay checks, paying employees late, or simply not paying employees at all. Unfortunately, many employers know they can get away with wage theft and have little fear of sanction. Enforcement mechanisms are weak, due to lack of dedicated enforcement capacity at the state level, limited capacity of local branches of the Federal Department of Labor, and the gaps in U.S. labor laws that leave many employees unprotected. The data from this report reveal that: - Over $28 million of unpaid wages have been recovered by the U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division in Florida, Miami-Dade's Wage Theft Ordinance and community groups throughout Florida. - The primary pillars of Florida's economy are undermined by widespread theft of employees' wages. Florida's key industries have the highest numbers of reported wage violations- tourism, retail trade and construction. - An average of 3,036 wage violations per year are reported to the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division in Florida (DOL-WHD). - In spite of ample evidence of widespread wage theft among low income workers, as of December 2011, the Florida Attorney General had not brought one single civil action to enforce the state's minimum wage law enacted in 2004. - Since the full implementation of the Miami-Dade County Wage Theft Ordinance in September 2010, the Miami-Dade County's Small Business Development agency has recovered nearly $400,000 in unpaid wages for 313 workers who unlawfully had their wages withheld from them. - Out of the six counties we analyzed, the largest number of cases were in Miami-Dade County followed by Hillsborough, Broward, Pinellas, Palm Beach and Orange counties in that order. Overall, the data suggest that the primary pillars of Florida's economy are undermined by widespread theft of employees' wages. Florida's key industries have the highest numbers of reported wage violations-tourism, retail trade and construction. Tourism, represented by Accommodation and Food Services in official data, has been a core focus of Florida's economy for nearly a century and it has the highest frequency of reported wage violations. Retail trade has been a growing generator of employment in Florida for decades. Jobs in both tourism and retail tend to pay relatively low wages. Thus, when there is theft from wages that are already relatively low, employees and their families are likely to suffer even more severely. The third industry plagued by wage theft, construction, does offer higher average wages than either tourism or retail trade, but the averages conceal considerable variation. While wages in the construction industry are higher on average than tourism or retail trade, much construction work is done through subcontracting with often only verbal agreements between a subcontractor and employees; and wages are often paid in cash. Under these conditions, it is relatively easy and common for subcontractors to not pay employees the wages they are due. The wage theft stories collected by community based organizations offer a glimpse into the impact of wage theft on individual employees. They demonstrate the unscrupulous competitive advantage that some employers gain by ignoring the law and causing suffering most often among those who can least afford it. When we consider that many employees who lose wages to wage theft earn at or near minimum wage with no benefits like health insurance we can imagine that the loss of even a small amount of earnings imposes real hardship. In the six most populous Florida counties, the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division recovered wages just under $16 million dollars. The average amount of recovered wages is $651 per employee who made a claim, more than a full week's work for someone earning $15 an hour, and more than two weeks work for someone earning the minimum wage. This average is a significant amount of money for an individual employee to lose over the course of a year. But, any loss of legitimately earned wages is a significant financial loss and a violation not only of the law but also of the social contract between employee and employer that is fundamental to a market economy. This analysis of wage theft cases also raises the question of whether a county and state economy can be healthy and grow while tolerating an unjust business model that avoids contributing to tax revenues. The employers who fail to follow the laws concerning their employees create an unfair business environment that penalizes those who do follow the law. Maintaining a level playing field for businesses is critical to maintaining a competitive business environment and to economic growth. The dishonest business model of practicing wage theft puts law abiding employers at a competitive disadvantage and undermines Florida's efforts to attract business. This report reveals that through the efforts of the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division, Miami-Dade County's Wage Theft Ordinance, and community organizations throughout Florida, millions of dollars of unpaid wages have been recovered. Yet, all indicators are that much more can be done by simply enforcing existing wage and hour laws and by creating a statewide process that address the problem, since Florida has no state equivalent to a Department of Labor to investigate wage and hour complaints and does not have staff to enforce its minimum wage law. The evidence accumulating of a spreading illegal and ultimately an anti-business practice raises serious questions for a state economy and local economies hoping to attract businesses and employees to grow. Details: Miami, FL: Research Institute on Social and Economic Policy, Center for Labor Research and Studies, Florida International University, 2012. 43p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 20, 2018 at: https://www.reimaginerpe.org/files/Wage-Theft_How-Millions-of-Dollars-are-Stolen-from-Floridas-Workforce_final.docx1_.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United States URL: https://www.reimaginerpe.org/files/Wage-Theft_How-Millions-of-Dollars-are-Stolen-from-Floridas-Workforce_final.docx1_.pdf Shelf Number: 153519 Keywords: Economic Crimes Financial Crime Labor Law Violations Wage Theft Worker Exploitation |
Author: Temple University Beasley School of Law Title: Shortchanged: How Wage Theft Harms Pennsylvania's Workers and Economy Summary: This report unmasks a shocking, but exceedingly common problem facing low-wage workers in Pennsylvania. Wage theft, the illegal non-payment or under payment of wages, is a pervasive problem hurting hundreds of thousands of low-wage workers across the state each week. Wage theft is not insignificant or uncommon. It occurs across a broad range of industries, including construction workers, fast food workers, caregivers for children and the elderly, factory workers, restaurant staff, cashiers, and office clerks. Its victims include men and women of every race and nationality. It affects both U.S. citizens and undocumented immigrants. Yet the problem of wage theft is generally hidden or unknown. Previously, there were no available data on the extent of wage theft throughout Pennsylvania. This report seeks to fill that void by studying the prevalence of the problem across the Commonwealth. Details: Philadelphia: Social Justice Lawyering Clinic at the Stephen and Sandra Shell Center for Social Justice at Temple University Beasley School of Law, 2015. 55p. Source: https://www2.law.temple.edu/csj/files/wagetheft-report.pdf Year: 2015 Country: United States URL: https://www2.law.temple.edu/csj/files/wagetheft-report.pdf Shelf Number: 153526 Keywords: Economic Crimes Financial Crime Labor Law Violations Wage Theft Worker Exploitation |
Author: Cavanough, Edward Title: Ending Wage Theft: Eradicating Underpayment in the Australian Workplace Summary: Wage theft is now one of the most pressing public policy issues in Australia. In some sectors of the economy it has transitioned from a fringe activity to a business model. And at the same time, most Australians haven't seen a decent pay-rise in more than half a decade. Wage theft and low wage growth are related. Our Falling Wages, Stalling Growth report highlighted how wage theft by some businesses undermines the ability of their competitors to give their staff a pay rise: a reminder that it's in everyone's economic interests to put an end to this pernicious practice. This report builds on that 2018 report with a closer look at the people in our workforce that are most at risk to having their wages stolen. From young workers in hospitality not getting super or penalty rates to migrant workers in horticulture and more, we see that some segments of the population are more vulnerable than others. At the same time few, if any, sectors of the economy can say they are free from blemish - it's more a question of degrees or differing forms that wage theft takes than whether or not it occurs. The report also seeks to highlight the financial and welfare impacts on those workers and their families as well as the flow-on consequences for the broader economy, including the Federal Budget deficit. Recognising that this harmful habit by some has become a community-wide problem that warrants all of our attention, this report puts forward ideas and solutions to eradicate wage theft. These are grouped into four broad categories. First, this report advocates for a set of measures designed to demonstrate a zero-tolerance approach to wage theft. This includes reinforcing steps already underway to criminalise wage theft at a state level as well as new proposals to have it recognised as a form of anti-competitive conduct that will enable legitimate employers to seek damages when a competitor has undermined their business by underpaying their staff. Second, measures to make compliance more straight forward for employers in the first place and private enforcement action more accessible for employees are then explored. In corporate parlance, the latter means ensuring an effective right of audit for employees or unions acting on their behalf. Meanwhile streamlining the payment of superannuation and payroll is a simple example of how unnecessary complexity can be removed for employers. Third, we argue boosting public resources to tackle wage theft as well as improving government enforcement activities are required. Every dollar underpaid to staff means less income and payroll taxes flowing into government coffers. Conversely, this means whenever an employee makes a successful claim for underpaid wages the budget bottom line is improved. In effect, the commonweal and state treasurers are free-riding on some of the more vulnerable workers in our labour force when it really should be the other way around. This is why we have proposed legislating the Stopping Wage Theft Subsidy Pool to subsidise private enforcement action, education campaigns and to reward whistleblowers. Finally, the report looks at how other, often unrelated, areas of government policy need to be improved to ensure they don't unintentionally reward or encourage wage theft. The report puts forward specific suggestions in relation to government procurement and grants as well as immigration, and recommends the establishment of a whole-of-government taskforce to ensure all commonwealth policy levers are aligned towards ending wage theft as a business model. Details: Melbourne: McKell Institute Victoria, 2019. 67p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 27, 2019 at: https://mckellinstitute.org.au/app/uploads/McKell-Ending-Wage-Theft.pdf Year: 2019 Country: Australia URL: https://mckellinstitute.org.au/app/uploads/McKell-Ending-Wage-Theft.pdf Shelf Number: 155189 Keywords: Economic Crimes Financial Crime Labor Law Violations Wage Theft Worker Exploitation |
Author: Cavanough, Edward Title: The Economic Impact of Wage Theft in South Australia Summary: This report explores the economic impact of wage theft in South Australia. Wage theft is widespread and likely growing, impacting up to 170,000 South Australian workers to varying degrees, and almost certainly costing South Australian workers, collectively, more than $500 million a year. Part 1 of this report defines wage theft, drawing distinctions between wage theft - the unlawful non-compliance of wage laws by employers - and wage suppression which, while impactful in its own right, is not technically illegal, before Part 2 looks at the victims of wage theft. While workers in certain industries are more susceptible to wage theft than others, this report reiterates the growing evidence that wage theft occurs in a wide range of industries throughout the economy. It affects workers directly, but also the economy more broadly, with wage thefts significantly impacting workers' ability to consumer, and therefore constraining aggregate demand. Part 3 explores the abrogation of oversight of wage laws by the Federal Government in recent years. Since 2013, the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) has seen a dramatic decline in its resources, constraining its capacity to conduct its work. The FWO is the national entity through which wage laws are enforced, and where workers can report incidents of lost and stolen wages. That the FWO has been so dramatically under resourced has meant that most perpetrators of wage theft are unlikely to ever be identified. In each of FWO's audits, however, consistently high levels of noncompliance have been unearthed. Parts 4 and 5 assess the economic impact of wage theft and the underpayment and non-payment of superannuation in South Australia. It is likely that up to 170,000 South Australian workers are victims of wage theft to varying degrees. Around 1/3 workers entitled to superannuation are not being paid their full entitlements. Such high rates of non-compliance have enormous economic impacts: this report's most conservative estimate of the combined loss of superannuation and income in South Australia due to wage theft is around $360 million. Medium estimates in this report see this figure rise to $560 million. This constrains consumer spending and likely costs the State Government between $31-60 million in forgone GST revenue each year, as noted in Part 6. Part 7 then contextualises these findings, noting that wage theft costs considerably more than the theft of material goods in South Australia, before Part 8 offers a series of reform recommendations for the State Government. While many of the levers for addressing wage theft are available to the Federal Government, State Governments have options available to them, too. This report puts forward 6 recommendations: ensuring best-practice labour-hire licensing within the state, tightening State procurement policy to ensure wage theft is eradicated from supply chains, actively collaborate on wage theft responses with other jurisdictions, consider ways to reform how superannuation is paid by the State government to set an example of best practice, invest in more education and training programs, and criminalising wage theft in the state while implementing strict financial penalties for noncompliance within SA. Wage theft is one of the most significant public policy issues of our time - but there are tools available to governments, both Federal and State, to help eradicate the costly scourge of wage theft from the workplace. Details: World Square NSW: McKell Institute, 2019. 49p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 15, 2019 at: https://mckellinstitute.org.au/app/uploads/McKell-Wage-theft-in-South-Australia.pdf Year: 2019 Country: Australia URL: https://mckellinstitute.org.au/app/uploads/McKell-Wage-theft-in-South-Australia.pdf Shelf Number: 155419 Keywords: Economic Crimes Financial Crime Labor Law Violations Wage Theft Worker Exploitation |
Author: Verite Title: Research on Indicators of Forced Labor: Successes, Challenges and Reflections on Future Engagement Summary: A new estimate from the International Labor Organization (ILO) found that there were 20.9 million victims of forced labor around the globe in 2012, a significantly higher number than its previous estimate of 12.3 million victims in 2005. This shows that high numbers of workers around the globe continue to be enslaved and demonstrates the need for research to better understand the characteristics and causes of forced labor. From 2008 through 2011, Verite carried out research on the presence of indicators of forced labor in the production of ten goods in seven countries: shrimp in Bangladesh; Brazil-nuts, cattle, corn, and peanuts in Bolivia; sugar in the Dominican Republic; coffee in Guatemala; rubber in Liberia; fish in Indonesia; and tuna in the Philippines. The purpose of the research was to increase understanding about the nature of forced labor in the supply chains of a broad spectrum of goods in various countries around the world. The research aimed not to determine the existence or scale of forced labor in these countries and sectors, but rather to identify the presence of indicators of forced labor and factors that increase workers' vulnerability to labor exploitation. The sectors and locations of production were chosen as an area of focus based on past reports of the presence of, or vulnerability to, forced labor that would benefit from further systematic research. Verite's research was designed to lend more nuance and detail to existing understandings of these situations on-the-ground, to expand the body of research on forced and exploitative labor, and to raise awareness of stakeholders to the nature of the problem. The specific findings from this research in each locale are offered in seven stand-alone reports. The depth and breadth of this three-year, multi-country initiative offers a unique opportunity for reflection on approaches to researching forced and exploitative labor among hidden and highly vulnerable populations. In this document, Verite describes the overarching methodology that was used for its research, and the ways in which this methodology was adapted to meet individual country circumstances. Particular successes and challenges of research design, implementation, and analysis are discussed, and issues to consider are offered for future research on exploitative or forced labor. Verite shares these thoughts and insights as a contribution to the global movement - by concerned governments, international organizations, labor unions, nongovernmental organizations, companies, investors, and others - to build capacity to identify and clarify egregious labor abuses, and to use that information as a platform for crafting effective policies and programs to combat these abuses. Details: Amherst, MA: Author, 2016. 19p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 16, 2019 at: https://www.verite.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Lessons-Learned-During-Research-on-Indicators-of-Forced-Labor-in-the-Production-of-Goods-v2.pdf Year: 2016 Country: International URL: https://www.verite.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Lessons-Learned-During-Research-on-Indicators-of-Forced-Labor-in-the-Production-of-Goods-v2.pdf Shelf Number: 155882 Keywords: Forced Labor Modern Slavery Supply Chains Worker Exploitation |