Author Kim Bobo: Wage Theft Is Widespread In U.S. - Workers' Centers Fighting It

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.laborradio.org/node/10159

By Jesse Russell

How prevalent is wage theft in the United States? According to a new book from Interfaith Worker Justice Executive Director Kim Bobo it is more common than you may think. Bobo discovered while working with the organization as non-unionized workers began coming in and she heard horror stories that led to opening worker centers around the country.

: The number one problem that workers face that go to the centers is wage theft. Just flat out workers not being paid for all the work they do.

In her new book Wage Theft in America: Why Million of Americans Are Not Getting Paid – And What We Can Do About It, Bobo explores the issues surrounding wage theft and how workers can make sure they aren’t victims. Bobo explained what Wage Theft means:

: The law is that workers must be paid minimum wage and overtime and there are some additional state laws. The truth is there are really a lot of ethical good employers following the law. On the other hand there is also this huge set of employers that are just flat out breaking the law. Not paying people what they ought to be paid according to the law. When workers aren’t being paid minimum wage, not being paid overtime, not paid at all, that’s wage theft.

Bobo said she believes the number of business owners committing wage theft simply because they are ignorant of the laws is few and far between:

: There certainly are some small mom and pop shops who don’t really know what the laws are, but unfortunately I think the folks that just don’t get it is not the majority of folks. I think the majority of folks who are stealing wages from workers know precisely what they are doing, but they feel no consequences.