Today's Article
Employers are
increasingly engaging
in acts of wage theft
against their workers,
according to recent
reports from the GAO.
increasingly engaging
in acts of wage theft
against their workers,
according to recent
reports from the GAO.
The American Spark
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Wage Theft A Growing Problem
By Cliff Montgomery - Nov. 15th, 2009
Employers are increasingly engaging in acts of wage theft against their workers, according to recent reports
from the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
The GAO conducted an investigation of the Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division (WHD), to ensure it
was properly enforcing provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
That law "is designed to ensure that millions of workers are paid the federal minimum wage and overtime.
Conducting investigations based on worker complaints is WHD’s priority," stated the GAO studies.
"GAO found that WHD frequently responded inadequately to complaints, leaving low wage workers vulnerable
to wage theft and other labor law violations," stated a GAO study released in June.
"Posing as fictitious complainants, GAO filed 10 common complaints with WHD district offices across the
country. These tests found that WHD staff deterred fictitious callers from filing a complaint by encouraging
employees to resolve the issue themselves, directing most calls to voicemail, not returning phone calls to both
employees and employers, and providing conflicting or misleading information about how to file a complaint,"
continued the June report.
"An assessment of complaint intake processes would help ensure that WHD staff provide appropriate
customer service," stated the June GAO study.
The GAO has even provided clips of undercover calls, revealing the Labor Department's poor service.
"According to WHD policies, investigators should enter all reasonable complaints into WHD’s database.
However, even though all of GAO’s fictitious complaints alleged violations of the laws that WHD enforces, 5 of
10 complaints were not recorded in WHD’s database." declared the June study.
"In addition, WHD policy in one region instructs staff not to record the investigative work done on small cases
in which the employer refuses to pay, making WHD appear better at resolving these cases than it is.
Reassessing its processes for recording complaints would help WHD ensure that all case information is
available," added the June report.
"In [another] case, a WHD investigator lied about investigative work performed and did not investigate GAO’s
fictitious complaint. At the end of the undercover tests, GAO was still waiting for WHD to begin investigating
three cases—a delay of nearly 5, 4, and 2 months, respectively," declared a second GAO study on wage theft,
released in March.
"GAO [also] identified 20 cases affecting at least 1,160 real employees whose employers were inadequately
investigated," added the March report.
"For example, GAO found cases where it took over a year for WHD to respond to a complaint, cases closed
based on unverified information provided by the employer, and cases dropped when the employer did not
return phone calls," continued the March study.
"GAO’s overall assessment found ineffective complaint intake and investigation processes. WHD officials
often told GAO that WHD lacks the resources to conduct an investigation of every complaint, allowing
employers in some small cases to avoid paying back wages simply by refusing to pay. GAO found that WHD’s
investigations were often delayed by months or years," pointed out the June report.
"Monitoring the extent to which WHD staff are able to handle the volume of complaints would provide
assurance that WHD has sufficient resources available," added the June study.
"Under FLSA, the statute of limitations is 2 years from the date of the violation, meaning that every day that
WHD delays an investigation, the complainant’s risk of becoming ineligible to collect back wages increases.
However, in several offices, backlogs prevent investigators from initiating cases within 6 months. Suspending
the statute of limitations during a WHD investigation would prevent employees from losing back wages due to
delays," the June GAO report recommended.
Like what you're reading so far? Then why not order a full year (52 issues) of The American Spark e-
newsletter for only $15? A major article covering an story not being told in the Corporate Press will be
delivered to your email every Monday morning for a full year, for less than 30 cents an issue. Order Now!
By Cliff Montgomery - Nov. 15th, 2009
Employers are increasingly engaging in acts of wage theft against their workers, according to recent reports
from the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
The GAO conducted an investigation of the Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division (WHD), to ensure it
was properly enforcing provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
That law "is designed to ensure that millions of workers are paid the federal minimum wage and overtime.
Conducting investigations based on worker complaints is WHD’s priority," stated the GAO studies.
"GAO found that WHD frequently responded inadequately to complaints, leaving low wage workers vulnerable
to wage theft and other labor law violations," stated a GAO study released in June.
"Posing as fictitious complainants, GAO filed 10 common complaints with WHD district offices across the
country. These tests found that WHD staff deterred fictitious callers from filing a complaint by encouraging
employees to resolve the issue themselves, directing most calls to voicemail, not returning phone calls to both
employees and employers, and providing conflicting or misleading information about how to file a complaint,"
continued the June report.
"An assessment of complaint intake processes would help ensure that WHD staff provide appropriate
customer service," stated the June GAO study.
The GAO has even provided clips of undercover calls, revealing the Labor Department's poor service.
"According to WHD policies, investigators should enter all reasonable complaints into WHD’s database.
However, even though all of GAO’s fictitious complaints alleged violations of the laws that WHD enforces, 5 of
10 complaints were not recorded in WHD’s database." declared the June study.
"In addition, WHD policy in one region instructs staff not to record the investigative work done on small cases
in which the employer refuses to pay, making WHD appear better at resolving these cases than it is.
Reassessing its processes for recording complaints would help WHD ensure that all case information is
available," added the June report.
"In [another] case, a WHD investigator lied about investigative work performed and did not investigate GAO’s
fictitious complaint. At the end of the undercover tests, GAO was still waiting for WHD to begin investigating
three cases—a delay of nearly 5, 4, and 2 months, respectively," declared a second GAO study on wage theft,
released in March.
"GAO [also] identified 20 cases affecting at least 1,160 real employees whose employers were inadequately
investigated," added the March report.
"For example, GAO found cases where it took over a year for WHD to respond to a complaint, cases closed
based on unverified information provided by the employer, and cases dropped when the employer did not
return phone calls," continued the March study.
"GAO’s overall assessment found ineffective complaint intake and investigation processes. WHD officials
often told GAO that WHD lacks the resources to conduct an investigation of every complaint, allowing
employers in some small cases to avoid paying back wages simply by refusing to pay. GAO found that WHD’s
investigations were often delayed by months or years," pointed out the June report.
"Monitoring the extent to which WHD staff are able to handle the volume of complaints would provide
assurance that WHD has sufficient resources available," added the June study.
"Under FLSA, the statute of limitations is 2 years from the date of the violation, meaning that every day that
WHD delays an investigation, the complainant’s risk of becoming ineligible to collect back wages increases.
However, in several offices, backlogs prevent investigators from initiating cases within 6 months. Suspending
the statute of limitations during a WHD investigation would prevent employees from losing back wages due to
delays," the June GAO report recommended.
Like what you're reading so far? Then why not order a full year (52 issues) of The American Spark e-
newsletter for only $15? A major article covering an story not being told in the Corporate Press will be
delivered to your email every Monday morning for a full year, for less than 30 cents an issue. Order Now!
Wait, why does an
independent news source
run advertisements? The
Spark answers in its
advertising policy.
independent news source
run advertisements? The
Spark answers in its
advertising policy.
* Please check out our ads--they
help keep this news site running.
Thanks!
help keep this news site running.
Thanks!