ANOTHER PART OF AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM

I first heard about wage theft about 40 years ago from a friend who wasn't paid for overtime at a McDonald's in upper upstate NY and it seems that this has been happening for decades. 

More Workers Are Claiming ‘Wage Theft’

By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
AUG. 31, 2014
NY TIMES

The lawsuit is part of a flood of recent cases — brought in California and across the nation — that accuse employers of violating minimum wage and overtime laws, erasing work hours and wrongfully taking employees’ tips.

Julie Su, the state labor commissioner, recently ordered a janitorial company in Fremont to pay $332,675 in back pay and penalties to 41 workers who cleaned 17 supermarkets. She found that the company forced employees to sign blank time sheets, which it then used to record inaccurate, minimal hours of work.

Commissioner Su of California said wage theft harmed not just low-wage workers. “My agency has found more wages being stolen from workers in California than any time in history,” she said. “This has spread to multiple industries across many sectors. It’s affected not just minimum-wage workers, but also middle-class workers.”

“This is just not acceptable,” Mr. Weil said. “You can’t threaten people to lose their jobs because they are asserting rights that go back 75 years.”