Employer Doesn’t Pay You? Under Bush Wage and Hour Dept., You’re Out of Luck

http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/07/16/employer-doesnt-pay-you-under-bush-wage-and-hour-dept-youre-out-of-luck/

by Mike Hall, Jul 16, 2008

Two new reports by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) show the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, especially under the Bush administration, is conducting fewer and less thorough investigations in allegations of employer wage theft.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmxlvUIEng4

Over the past decade, the number of investigations into employers’ refusal to pay minimum wage, overtime or even any wages at all, has dropped from 47,000 in 1997 to just 30,000 last year. And when investigations are launched, sometimes investigators drop their probes simply because an employer hangs up on them or asserts, without proof, they can’t afford to pay the workers what they are owed.

Yesterday, the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee heard some glaring examples of the Wage and Hour Division’s lax enforcement efforts that in most cases hurt low-wage workers the worst. Said committee Chairman Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.):

Wage theft affects everyone from poultry workers to construction workers, nursing home employees to retail workers, farm workers to landscapers….and in too many cases, investigators from the Wage and Hour Division simply drop the ball in pursing employers that cheat their employees out of their hard-earned wages.

Interfaith Worker Justice (IWJ) Executive Director Kim Bobo told the committee:

The number one problem addressed by these centers is wage theft….Millions of workers have wages stolen each and every year. Workers are confused by the laws and unsure which agencies can help them. Employers understand that the consequences of stealing wages are negligible. Wage stealers have no fear…the Wage and Hour Division is failing to protect workers from wage theft because of its woefully inadequate enforcement of the federal wage and hour laws.

FULL story at link.

this one.

my daughter STILL hasn't seen money due her from back in 91/92