Running head: WAGE THEFT

Wage Theft in the United States

Luisa Nevarez
University of Texas at El Paso
English II
November 07, 2014

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Abstract

Wage theft is a big problem in the United States as we already know. I will be
introducing some questions that can maybe answer some of yours. In this essay you will find out
why the Government has never changed this for us, how it will affect your family if you are
being paid minimum wage, and why do people do money in a bad way which is because how
they get paid in regular jobs. The struggle of citizens has been getting worst, President Obama
said in 2014 that maybe we could have a raise from $7.25 to $10.10 which would be a 40 percent
better than what we are now. Because of wage theft, people take in consider of doing other jobs
like drug selling or even prostitution which both things are not good jobs at all and this is
something that the government makes people do in order to get the sufficient money to support
their family.

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Wage Theft in the United States

Wage Theft is a problem that we have been around which comes from minimum wage
for example here in El Paso which is $7.25. There is no way how people in El Paso who
have a family to support and who have a job that offers them only $7.25 per hour can
survive during this Century. This does not only affect the parents by suffering all the time
but also their children, they are not given the life that every kid should be given. In both
sides this is not fair because how can other cities have a better minimum wage available
than us. People argue about this all the time which brings us to make protesting and other
stuff which the government does not care for, or maybe they do but they dont change
anything about it. They should make a legal action in order to help this people and their
family. People would like to know what to do in order to change this and get a better life
because even though they work so hard, they dont get back what they should and in
some places they work over time and still dont get paid those extra hours. Having to
answer these four questions will help the audience understand better this topic.

How will changing wage theft help the familys life for those who get paid
minimum wage?

What is the reason for the government to be for wage theft and not against it?

How could people end with this problem in order to help all of us who get paid
minimum wage?

What are the pros and cons of raising minimum wage?

How will changing wage theft help the familys life for those who get
paid minimum wage?

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Having to change this would not only help the parents who are the ones responsible for
everything that happens in the family but also their children. People dont imagine how children
are being affected by this and how different it could be for them if this would be changed. The
people who get paid minimum wage struggle a lot more to maintain a living than others do.
Theres no way a doctor or someone who has a profession could struggle the same as they do
because they get paid way better. This is obvious because they worked for it to become who they
are now but that doesnt mean that this people dont work very hard for their money. If minimum
wage was changed then they would struggle but not as much as they do today. Americans
toiling away in low-wage jobs already struggle to earn a living, and a new report says these
meager checks are winnowed down by wage theft with alarming regularity. (NBC, 2014) What
they are trying to explain is the same thing I have been discussing. The only thing wage theft is
doing is making people have a hard time to maintain a good living status. Wage Theft can take
many forms; overtime violations are common, along with minimum wage violations, since other
types of violations can result in a worker being cheated out of overtime pay or being paid the
equivalent of less than minimum wage. (NBC, 2014)

(Table 1)

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Table 1 is trying to explain how there are way more percentage of not paid than paid people
which brings getting away with Wage Theft. There are thousands of tables and graphs being
claims of wage theft problems.

What is the reason for the government to be for wage theft and not against it?
The reason the government is for wage theft and not against it, is only so they cannot lose
money over it. It is something that is not fair enough for us the employers because it does not
help us at all. Minimum wage and wage theft had become a problem for all of us who are not the
government or who are not their own boss. Having to deal with this is something awful, and us
protesting and making groups to finish with it does not change the governments mind. The
government could change this if they would want to but they had never done it for a reason, and
that reason is not to protect us or to help us in any way. Additionally, the EPI report showed that
victims of wage theft who sought help from private lawyers or government agencies recovered at
least $933 million in stolen pay just in 2012 alone. (Ellyn Fortino, 2014) So some of them are
being helped by them but still there is a way they can stop this and its only by making a law or
something if not nothing would change by itself. Wage Theft has become a problem for the
governments as well for us so why wont they just do something about it, its not like if the
people who protest are protesting to who? I am one of those who are going through wage theft
and its not something fun, its actually terrible how people who work the same hours as you get
paid twice or three times more than you.

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(Table 2)

Table 2 is trying to let the audience know how there is way more victims of wage theft
than robberies and how can the government look at this kind of graphs and still wont do
anything about it. In the graph, it shows that about 35000 are victims in only two years, imagine
now it keeps getting worst every year passes by.
Some federal and state officials agree. They assert that more companies are violating
wage laws than ever before, pointing to the record number of enforcement actions they have
pursued. They complain that more employers perhaps motivated by fierce competition or a
desire for higher profits are flouting wage laws. (Steven Greenhouse, 2014) Steven
Greenhouse which posted an article in the New York Times, is explaining some cases of the
employees. He said that there are some federal and state officials that do agree of this, but not
100% percent of them do.

Raising the minimum wage can help when work ends?

This is a yes question, it is obvious that if minimum wage changes before your work ends
it will help a lot. You will get paid whenever you get retired a percent of you wage, and if you get

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paid the minimum wage from nowadays it will not be that much. We can compare the current
federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour to what would happen if Congress passed the minimum
wage bill its currently considering. (Bread for the world Institute) In this website they are
letting the audience know how it would be if they increase the minimum wage every year and in
2021 it will be $11.00. Raising the minimum wage will increase earnings of millions of workers
in the United States. While Republicans in Congress continue to block the President's proposal,
a number of state legislatures and governors, mayors and city councils, and business owners have
answered the Presidents call and raised wages for their residents and employees. (White House,
2014) Some of the business owners had decided to raise their wage and some have not.

What are the pros and cons of raising minimum wage?

There are some pros and cons for raising minimum wage, and President Obama said in
2014 that he intended to raise $7.25 to $10.10 which would be an increase of 40 percent. In an
article they show five pros and five cons, the pros are; Economic Stimulus, More Opportunity for
jobs, Reduced Expense for social programs, Decreased Turnover Rate, and Inflation. The cons
are listed as; Layoffs, Price Increase, Fewer Hirings, Competition will Intensify, and Applied
Inconsistently. Raising the minimum wage means minimum wage workers have more money to
expend which means more money ripples throughout the economy as minimum wage employees
are able to spend more. (Chad Halvorson, 2014) That is one of the pros that Chad Halvorson is
talking about which is Economic Stimulus. Then one of the cons that is explained is said like
this, If an employer has a tight compensation budget and the minimum wage is raised, it means
they can no longer compensate the same number of employees at a higher rate and must make
layoffs to remain within budget. So, while some employees may be making slightly more money,

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others will be left unemployed. (Chad Halvorson, 2014) This is called Layoffs what this
means is that if they do raise minimum wage then there will no longer be that much people hired
as today. They say that obviously raising the minimum wage will not make a significant impact
on the poverty level. In the other hand minimum wage posters, say that It also encourages
people to join the work force, rather than seek other illegal means of earning money such as
selling drugs or prostitution. (Debate.org) This is a very good point that I had already thought
about which is very true.

Conclusion

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Wage theft has been in process for a big period of time and sense than anything has changed.
This has been damaging peoples life and living as well. There is no way how the government
can still permit this happening and business places where they dont care about their employees
but just about their business and their money. People who have been through wage theft hope
that President Obama does make a change on this like he did and bring minimum wage uo to
$10.10.

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References
(BreadFortheWorld,2014)
http://notes.bread.org/2014/08/raisingtheminimumwagecanhelpwhenworkends.html
(ChadHalvorson,2014)
http://wheniwork.com/blog/theprosandconsofraisingtheminimumwage/
(Debate.org,2014)
http://www.debate.org/minimumwage/
(NBCNews,2014)
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/wagetheftcostinglowincomeworkersbillions
n212406
(NewYorkTimes,2014)
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/01/business/moreworkersareclaimingwagetheft.html?_r=0
(ProgressIllinois,2014)
http://www.progressillinois.com/quickhits/content/2014/09/15/reportwagetheftcostsus
workersbillionsdollarsannually

(WhiteHouse,2014)
http://www.whitehouse.gov/raisethewage