The world can be a very unfair place. When jobs are scarce employers sometimes take advantage of employees, often in the form of wage theft.

In the previous blog entry we looked at three industries where wage theft is rampant: the garment industry, the restaurant business and employment involving immigrant labor. As reported in www.seattleweekly.com.

Although numerous studies show that wage theft is common among low-wage workers in general, immigrants seem to suffer higher rates of violations. It has been estimated that foreign-born workers, suffered more than twice the rate of minimum-wage violations as their U.S.-born counterparts.

Immigrant's who work 55 or 60 hours a week are getting $1,000 twice a month - which works out to be at or below minimum wage, and no overtime.

I have read that some employers and companies actually write their business model to steal from workers. They make money knowing that many workers will not do anything, and just move on to the next job.

Laws to Prevent Wage Theft

But Labor & Industries learns of a violation only if a worker complains. Prior to the Wage Payment Act of 2006, remedying wage violations required taking employers to court. The new law was designed to help more workers more quickly by handling most wage complaints through an administrative process. In general, say advocates, this has been an improvement for workers.

The downside is that the department is so burdened with complaints that it has virtually ceased conducting targeted investigations of companies and industries.

Once again, legislation meant to help the cause may actually be providing no help at all. I am not sure a stop theft class is warranted for these employers, but we might be able to develop a different model of stop theft class that can keep employers morally responsible. What do you think?