Ohio|Alliance|Against|Wage|Theft
What is wage theft?
Wage theft occurs when an employer does not pay workers their legally or contractually promised wages. Wage theft is theft and it is illegal.
An employer commits wage theft by withholding or underpaying workers' wages. An employer can also steal employees' wages by misclassifying workers as independent contractors, making the worker ineligible for many benefits and protections such as overtime compensation. In some cases employees are simply not paid at all.
Wage theft can take many forms (click the links to view examples):
*Paying less than the minimum wage
*Paying partial or no wages for time worked
*Forcing workers to work off the clock
*Not paying hourly workers fully for working overtime
*Misclassifying workers as independent contractors
*Not paying workers their final paycheck
*Failing to pay prevailing wage on covered jobs
Wage theft affects all of us. Thousands of Ohioans are robbed of their wages each year. Telemarketers, day laborers, insulation contractors, stadium cleaners, ironworkers, retail store clerks and restaurant employees: These and others have been victimized by wage theft in Ohio. Workers are robbed of their rightly earned wages and families are denied their full income. The misclassification of employees as independent contractors has serious consequences for an individual employee's wages and for the state as a whole. A 2009 report by the Ohio Attorney General estimates that the State loses hundreds of millions of dollars a year in workers' compensation, unemployment compensation and income-tax payments due to misclassification. Employers that play by the rules are put at a competitive disadvantage by weak wage theft laws and lax enforcement that allow unprincipled employers to pay workers less than they are due.
What can I do to help?
The Ohio Alliance Against Wage Theft is a broad coalition of attorneys, low-income and immigrants' rights advocates, policy researchers, unions and individuals committed to ending wage theft in our state. You can show your support for the coalition by signing on to our policy statement, participating in an upcoming event, or arranging a speaker to talk about wage theft to your organization.
If you have been a victim of wage theft you can learn about enforcing your rights and protecting your wages here.
Further Reading:
Wages - U.S. Dept. of Labor
Wage Theft - Interfaith Worker Justice
Online Wage Theft Resource Center
Enforcement of Workplace Standards - NELP
OHIO ALLIANCE AGAINST WAGE THEFT
The Ohio Alliance Against Wage Theft is committed to ending wage theft in our state.
ALLIANCE MEMBERS
Allotta, Farley & Widman Co., LPA
Barkan Neff Handelman Meizlish, LLP
Cincinnati Interfaith Workers Center
Cohen, Rosenthal & Kramer LLP
Greater Columbus Jobs with Justice
Cleveland Jobs with Justice
Communication Workers of America - AFL-CIO District 4
Interfaith Worker Justice
The Lazzaro Law Firm, LLC
National Employment Law Project
North Shore AFL-CIO Federation of Labor
Ohio Administrative District Council of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers
Ohio Poverty Law Center
Policy Matters Ohio
SEIU District 1199 - Service Employees International Union, CTW, CLC
United Auto Workers, Region 2B
United Church of Christ - Justice and Witness Ministries
United Food & Commercial Workers, Local 1059
Join us by signing our policy statement.
WAGE THEFT IN OHIO
Wage theft happens across Ohio. This map shows violations in Hamilton Country.
Interested in creating a wage theft map for your county? Contact bgrayson@manleyburke.com to request a "Wage Theft Map Toolkit".
Search for wage theft near you
Thank you to Allotta, Farley & Widman, Co., LPA, for sponsoring this website as a community service.
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