I’m not like a super political person, and from my understanding its the idea that if I make a $10 thing for the bossman, but only get $1 that is wage theft?
But like, when I took the job I knew how much I was going to make?
Or is it like, people are literally not getting their paychecks?
I’m slightly inebreated, lazy, and don’t want my algorithms to start becoming politically charged from googling and youtubing this. I’m already collapse aware and my mental health is ultra fragile.
Help me Lemmy wan kenobi, you’re my only hope.
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Has your boss ever said something to you to the effect of “Hey I know you already clocked out but you forgot to do ___; can you knock that out for me real fast before you go home?”
If so, you’ve been the victim of wage theft. Wage theft isn’t not making the whole sum of the value you bring in to the company, it’s not getting any portion of the sum for which you are legally and ethically entitled to.
Wage theft is when they don’t pay what you agreed on, or are violating laws about things like overtime and minimum wage. For instance if they make you clock in and be basically at work but they’re not paying you, that’s wage theft. Or if they have you work 55 hours a week but don’t pay you time and a half for the extra 15 hours over 40, that’s wage theft.
It’s not really a political thing. It’s just the name of a specific type of crime.
From the employer: They aren’t paying you for the wages agreed on when you were hired for the hours you have worked. Usually in the form of just not calculating your hours correctly (IE you worked 40 hours, they only pay you for 30).
From the employee: Lying about the hours worked to get paid more than you should. (IE you worked 30 but claim to and get paid for 40).
The former happens a lot more than the latter.
It’s not really a political thing
Labor is extremely political.
Labor laws in the US are extremely weak. We don’t have many laws protecting us. We don’t have many unions. All of that has political causes.
Wage theft is not enforced the same way regular theft is. If you walked out of the store with $100 of stuff “you forgot” was in your pocket, you’d plausibly be cuffed and in jail. If your manager steals $100 because “he forgot” to submit the timesheet correctly, what’s going to happen? Probably nothing.
This has been the world for so long it feels normal and intuitive. Like, of course the cops will come and stop a theft! That’s like what they’re there for. But why don’t the cops come and stop “white collar” crime? Why don’t we have anything like that? Political reasons.
And even if you did report that they stole from you, a lot of that burden is on you… Do you know how to find a lawyer and file a law suit? Are you going to just be fired if they find out?
Personally, if I was on a jury for someone who beat the living shit out of their manager for stealing wages, I would nullify.
I think the idea is that “theft is not political”. Labor itself is not inherently political, but the fact that labor often not in a society that itself has unjust hierarchies is now political. The concept of “working at a task” is not political, but it can be.
That said, there’s one major group that cares about labor, cares about getting paid well, and doesn’t like people that steal money. And it’s sure as shit not the right wing.
https://youtu.be/ZLtzmRknRSU?si=iAgqiLlRH5Q83S9X I didn’t watch it yet but normally this channel is pretty good
According to stats I’ve read for my state, most of wage theft is former employees, whether they quit or were terminated, not getting their final paycheck in the time frame dictated by law. I don’t really see this as wage theft, because IN MY EXPERIENCE, tracking down former employees can be difficult, even if they quit yesterday.
This NOT to say other forms of wage theft don’t happen maliciously.
Also included are withholding tips from waitstaff, etc, since tips supposedly offset the lower hourly wages they’re paid.
