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.
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.
That is wild, so many salary jobs act like you should work more than 40 hours. I even had a manager that said upper level employees should be willing to work more than 40 hours per week. What a cock wart.
It’s more complex for salary jobs and why sometimes it’s worse to go salary if you’re hourly. Some salaried positions are exempt from receiving overtime, some aren’t.
Obama tried to fix this. It was like a small bandaid that Trump ripped off
Wouldn’t the exemption be considered wage theft though? What makes this scenario more complex?
Wage theft is specifically referring to the crime of not paying an employee what they’re owed. If the law says that you don’t need to be paid for something specific, like overtime, due to being a salaried employee, then it’s not wage theft. If, however, you are an hourly employee and are not paid overtime for your hours over 40, that’s wage theft.
Another example is for waitstaff that have a lower minimum wage due to tips being expected. If your employer keeps tips and doesn’t pay you at least as much as regular minimum wage, that is also wage theft.
This is a much more legalese take, I feel like some folks would disagree in terms of the spirit of wage theft vs the letter of the concept. I like it though, I appreciate it, I appreciate you.
The laws are against the employee when it comes to salaried positions. Most jobs that pay a salary are exempt from overtime; only certain types of jobs qualify. However, due to lack of awareness, not paying overtime to a salaried employee who actually qualifies is probably a very common form of wage theft.
Btw, I’ve never heard wage theft used to refer to employees misreporting their hours. I’m not sure that’s a common usage of the term (kinda think it’s not).
That’s the most common way I’ve heard it used in business settings. So it’s very audience dependant.
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A contract for a salaried position may say something like “you will work 40 hours a week but you maybe have to work some moderate overtime to complete tasks at certain times throughout the year.” (Probably better worded than that) but that means they can expect you to work overtime every now and then if there is a deadline or a project that requires it. But if its every week or an unreasonable amount of overtime per week then you should be compensated with time in lieu or extra money. It all depends on your contract.
Many of these answers are great, thank you for being graet, lemmy is great.