Wage theft is a lot more common than people think. It costs workers billions of dollars every year. Employers often get away with wage theft because it’s tough to spot and sometimes workers feel pressured to not speak up about it so that they don’t lose their jobs. But wage theft is illegal, and you can report wage theft to your state, or local authorities and to the U.S. Department of Labor.
WHAT ARE EXAMPLES OF WAGE THEFT?
Wage theft is any situation where you should be getting paid for your work and aren’t. Wage theft can take many forms and it can in some cases look like your employer just asking for a favor. The most common types of wage theft are:
Not getting paid for overtime
Your employer must pay you overtime wages for any time that you work that is over 40 hours in a consecutive seven-day period. It doesn’t matter if your boss divides up the time or has you work a staggered schedule. Legally you are entitled to overtime pay for any work that you do past 40 hours in one week.
Employee misclassification
Any employee of a business gets certain protections and benefits just for being an employee. For example, employees are covered by worker’s compensation rules so if they get hurt on the job they are protected. When employers misclassify their employees as independent contractors to get out of providing those protections that’s wage theft.