Imagine you’re working 40-plus hours a week washing dishes for minimum wage. This is bad enough. You’re barely making enough money to make financial ends meet. However, what if your employer was not paying the full amount of wages you’ve earned?
Unfortunately, this scenario is common in California. Workers lose out on almost $2 billion in minimum wage earnings annually in our state.
If you’ve been working hard in your job, and your pay is at the base minimum, you could be losing out on serious money that could help you put food on your family’s table, pay your utility bills, pay for gas money and more. There’s no doubt about it: Minimum wage violations hurt minimum wage workers, they hurt the California economy and they’re unlawful and unfair.
Activists take a stand
Six political activist groups have gotten together to put an end to minimum wage theft. The groups have banded together to form the “Make Work Pay” collaborative effort. The task group will zero in on wage theft that happens in the state of California. The group includes the following organizations: the East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy, Center on Policy Initiatives, Southern California Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health, National Employment Law Project, Worksafe and Working Partnerships USA. The goal of these groups is to improve on previous efforts to increase worker wages and increase enforcement efforts with regard to California’s labor laws.
If you suspect that you’re not being paid fairly, and in accordance with the hours you’ve worked, a California employment law attorney can help. Your lawyer will review the hours you’ve worked, the pay you’ve received and determine if any violations relating to overtime pay, pay for hours worked or other issues have occurred in your case.
Source: East Bay Times, “Why wage theft is a serious problem in California,” Kevin Smith, May 18, 2017
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