Nobody likes to be stolen from. It is equally offensive not to be compensated for the labor you were hired for and contracted to receive. Employees across the country are suffering from wage theft, and so far they have little recourse to get recompensated.

Having employees complain to a governing body is not effective because workers fear retaliation, including losing their jobs, especially for immigrant workers. More than 40% of laborers who complained to their employers said they were fired or suspended, threatened with a cut in hours or pay, or faced other forms of retribution. One in five said they had not complained about these violations - out of fear. As reported in www.seattleweekly.com.

Employers particularly exploit immigrants more because they know they don’t have a valid Social Security number, and how they don’t have many options to go somewhere else. They take advantage of this and exploit it.

In Seattle, Washington, only 11 people have reported wage theft to the police since last summer. Seattle passed a wage theft ordinance , making it easier for employees to expose cases of wage theft. Yet police, in the two years the ordinance has been in effect, cannot say how many actually reports have been filed.

I am not sure what the answer is to combat wage theft. I would love to hear some of your thoughts on the subject.