Cheating NYC Workers Out of the Pay They Earn

by Alex DiBranco · 2010-01-29 01:45:00 -0800
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A just-released study out of the National Employment Law Project finds gross violations of minimum wage and other labor laws in New York City, with immigrant populations particularly vulnerable to abuse. Their disturbing findings reveal that a solid majority of low-wage workers suffer from some kind of wage theft.

The report, "Working Without Laws: A Survey of Employment and Labor Law Violations in New York City," found that 21% of low wage workers were paid less than the legal (already low) minimum. This breaks down into violations for 11% of U.S.-born workers, 21% of authorized immigrants, and 35% of undocumented immigrants. Latino workers had the highest rates of wage abuse, with women being taken advantage of slightly more often than men.

While these numbers for employer abuse of minimum wage for both U.S.-born and immigrant workers are disturbing, violation rates for other aspects of labor law are much higher. The reports finds that documented immigrants in NYC had a 78% overtime violation rate; for U.S.-born citizens it was slightly less, but still high, at 63%, and for undocumented immigrants overtime violations were up at a full 92%. Employers also took advantage of immigrants who spoke English poorly 89% of the time, compared to 68% for more fluent speakers. The statistics for being made to work off-the-clock and for having mandatory meal breaks infringed upon were at comparably high levels.

Overall, this wage theft amounts to 15% of what workers should have earned, or about $3000 of a meager $20,000 a year per worker. In sum, taking into consideration the more than 300,000 workers who have suffered pay violations in NYC, employers are stealing -- and enjoying themselves -- over $18 million per week, or about $1 billion per year. This hurts the entire community by depriving workers of the consumer purchasing power that best stimulates the economy.

While this study focused on NYC, wage abuses against low-income workers occur across the country. A 2009 report, "Broken Laws, Unprotected Workers," looked at labor law violations in cities around the nation.

Photo credit: lovelypetal

Alex DiBranco is a Change.org Editor who has worked for the Nation, Political Research Associates, and the Center for American Progress. She is now based in New York City.
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