Does it sound like a problem to you that underage kids are working during school hours at a meatpacking plant with dangerous machinery?
How about a dishwasher not being paid overtime for 19 weeks?
Unfortunately, employees at the federal government’s Labor Department Wage and Hour Division failed to investigate these allegations and others that were raised by undercover investigators with the Government Accountability Office. In fact, the Wage and Hour Division mishandled 9 of the 10 cases brought by a team of undercover agents posing as aggrieved workers according to a report by the GAO.
It mishandled hundreds more that were filed by other workers. “This investigation clearly shows that Labor has left thousands of actual victims of wage theft who sought federal government assistance with nowhere to turn,” the report said. “Unfortunately, far too often the result is unscrupulous employers’ taking advantage of our country’s low-wage workers.”
This is pathetic. The government has to do its job to protect workers. And workers must be assured that they have an ally when unscrupulous employers cheat them out of hard-earned wages. This investigation shows – again – the importance of the tort system to protect victims of greed and injustice. Oftentimes, our court systems are the last resort for victims injured by others.
Richard J. Arsenault, 2011
