Hourly workers may not have the same job security as those paid a salary. If the company downsizes, they may be the first to lose their jobs. They may not have full-time employment and may not receive benefits.
They deserve full compensation for the time that they work for their employers, but the company may try to deny them even that. Wage theft is a serious issue in the United States, costing workers billions of dollars annually. Low-paid hourly workers are disproportionately affected by wage theft, often because they don’t understand their rights.
What are some of the common ways that employers deny their workers fair pay?
They change or manipulate records
Reducing the number of hours on someone’s time clock record is one way that a company could reduce how much they pay. Making changes to time clock records could prevent someone from claiming overtime pay or just cut an hour or two of compensation from each of their checks.
They force workers to do their job off the clock
As an hourly worker, your income depends on how many hours you work. When the company expects you to do work that they don’t pay you for, like answering phone calls and emails over the weekend or cleaning after the end of your shift, they deprive you of your fair pay.
Policies against overtime that affect pay but not scheduling are another form of wage theft. Fighting back against your employer stealing from you by making a wage and hour claim can help you connect with the pay you have already earned and hopefully change your employer’s practices.