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Report: Wage theft happens more than all other theft 

When most people think about theft in the United States, they think about things like car theft or a robbery at a convenience store. These are often violent events where items are taken by force – or a house is robbed through forced entry while the family is away.

These types of theft do take place. But workers need to remember that, even if you combine all of the minor types of theft that occur in the United States, the total value lost is still less than the amount of money employees lose to wage theft on an annual basis. Employees are being deprived of an incredible amount of wages, and it is often their own employers who are at fault.

What is wage theft?

Wage theft is just an umbrella term that covers any time that a business is not paying workers appropriately and in line with state law. This can be done in many different ways, such as:

  • Misclassifying employees to avoid paying them properly 
  • Paying a standard rate for overtime hours, rather than 1.5 times the standard rate 
  • Refusing to provide final paychecks to employees who quit 
  • Retroactively reducing an employee’s wage rate for hours that they already worked 
  • Failing to pay out promotions or bonuses

Often, wage theft goes unnoticed by the employee. Someone who worked a few overtime hours may just deposit their paycheck without realizing that they actually deserve a slightly higher rate for those extra hours. This is how businesses continue to take advantage of their own employees, and those who have been victimized by wage theft need to know what legal options they have.