Wage theft is an ongoing issue in almost all parts of the world especially in business cities and there's effort put fourth to combat it.
In Manhattan, New York, the Worker Protection Unit has already made a very significant attempt to try and address wage theft. So far they've prosecuted 11 cases and recovered about $1.3 million for over 50 workers.
But we got ourselves a problem because now the immigration crackdowns have created an unfortunate effect, deterring undocumented workers from reporting wage theft, because they fear they would be deportated if they do so.
Do you see the dilemma here. Your immigration status is determining your labor rights, ergo many workers are very vulnerable to exploitation now.
We just have to give them a hand because the Worker Protection Unit which was established in 2023 has done their best in holding employers accountable for wage theft. But despite all their efforts, the unit has realized a big decline in hotline calls to complain and this indicates a reluctance among the workers to come forward. They don't want immigration troubles so they have to endure mistreatment.
Rachana Pathak, head of the unit, attributes the decline of complaints to the heightened immigration enforcement. It has clearly instilled some fear among most of the undocumented workers of potential deportation if they report labor violations.
This fear is not baseless because previous cases have shown that workers who sought fairness legally faced retaliation, and that included deportation threats.
Many workers there continue to endure wage theft without seeking justice and that means exploitative employers will operate with impunity now.
This issue affects immigrant communities, particularly those without legal documentation. Undocumented workers usually find themselves in unfortunate employment situations. Situations where they are paid below minimum wage, denied overtime or not even compensated at all.
Employers in some instances will exploit this fear. They will knowingly withhold wages, knowing that the workers will not even think about reporting the theft. It's like being guilty of something and you get offended by someone who knows you're guilty, very hard to send this to court right.
This problem goes beyond the struggle of individuals. Wage theft in itself undermines the integrity of labor markets and that ends up creating an uneven playing field where unethical employers gain an unfair advantage.
The biggest effect of this is that trust is lost for legal and governmental institutions since the workers will see them as inaccessible or indifferent to their plight.
The whole thing just ends up as a cycle of exploitation and silence. It worsens the case and makes it increasingly difficult to address the root causes of wage theft.
How exactly are we to deal with this problem then? We obviously need a multifaceted approach to it. There should be an effort to separate labor law enforcement from immigration enforcement, that should be our first move.
It's important that workers feel safe reporting wage theft without the fear of immigration repercussions. So we could make up a policy that if it's a wage theft case, then it should not have anything to do with your immigration status, meaning your status will not be disclosed to the government during the dealing of the situation.
Education is also a must in this. Increased education and outreach to immigrant communities about their rights and the resources available to them to use. The reason is that many workers are very much unaware that they are entitled to fair wages and protection under labor laws, and they should be entitled regardless of their immigration status.
The most important thing is policies for the employers. The employers must be held accountable for their actions. Laws must be made and enforced regarding how an employer is to treat an employee.
They could have policies that imposes stricter penalties on employers who engage in wage theft and ensure that restitution is made to the affected workers. Then if they find out about cases like this, they can dish out the penalty and publicize it as a deterrent to others.
Screenshot taken from this site of the president signing laws regarding immigration