Wage theft is estimated to cost workers over $15 billion a year in the U.S., the Wage Theft Prevention and Wage Recovery Act finds. It disproportionately affects women, immigrants and minorities. Foreign-born workers are almost two times as likely to experience minimum wage violations as their U.S.-born counterparts, and African Americans are three times more likely to experience minimum wage violations than their White counterparts.
Also Read: 127,000 New York Workers Have Been Victims of Wage Theft
In this article, you will find out what wage theft is and some regulations that protect workers from wage theft.
Documented is publishing an original investigation with ProPublica which found that the New York Department of Labor (DOL) recorded at least $126 million in stolen wages between 2017 and 2021. This article is part of Documented’s series on workers’ rights and wage theft.
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The federal minimum wage for covered nonexempt workers is $7.25 per hour effective July 24, 2009, which is established by The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
For tipped employees, defined as those regularly...
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