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Published on Monday, November 27, 2017
How Can We Combat Wage Theft And Protect
Immigrant Workers?
Every year, millions of workers suffer from wage theft when employers or
companies do not pay them what they are owed.
by Rachel Deutsch
4 Comments
"Immigrant workers are particularly vulnerable to wage the and unsafe working conditions because employers realize they will be
reluctant to report violations out of fear of being reported to immigration authorities."(Photo: Unitarian Universalist Service
Committee/flickr/cc)
Wage theft, whichcosts America’s low-wage workers an estimated $50 billion each year,
comes in different forms. An employer could keep customer tips instead of paying them out
to workers, force employees to work off the clock without compensation, or illegally deduct
the cost of uniforms or work tools from employees’ paycheck.
Chances are that you know someone who has experienced wage theft. Every year, millions of
workers, many of them undocumented immigrants afraid to speak out, suffer from wage theft
when employers or companies do not pay them what they are owed.
In fact, more than two-thirds of low-wage workers experienced wage theft in their previous
workweeks in New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles, according to a 2009 study by the
National Employment Law Project (NELP). In New York alone, the state’s Department of