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<br />Sources Listed by Release Year
<br />Hacker, Chris; Ash-Har Quraishi; Amy Corral; Ryan Beard. (2023). "Wage Theft Often Goes Unpunished
<br />Despite State Systems Meant to Combat It." CBS News.
<br />Kev Finding: Even when wage theft is reported, employers often manage to avoid paying back the wages they owe. CBS
<br />News submitted public records requests to nearly every state labor department in the country and built a database of
<br />more than 650,000 total complaints. Of those cases, state agencies ruled in favor of claimants only about half of the time.
<br />Even when workers won their claims, more than a third of those successful cases —totaling nearly $1 billion —showed no
<br />money was ever recovered. Finally, if wage theft was treated the same as felony theft (or the threshold at which a
<br />misdemeanor street crime becomes a felony), 177,000 wage theft cases in 25 states could have been felony cases. This
<br />includes over 25% of cases in New Jersey, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Kentucky, Indiana, Maryland, New York,
<br />Maine, Montana, Minnesota, Kansas, Utah, and Michigan.
<br />Moe, Lina; James Parrott; and Jason Rochford. (2020). The Magnitude of Low -Paid Gig and Independent
<br />Contract Work in New York State. The New School.
<br />Kev Finding: 17.5% of low -wage independent contractors in New York worked in construction. The Immigration Reform
<br />and Control Act requires employers to verify each employee's eligibility to work in the United States to ensure that they
<br />are accounted for in payroll taxes and insurance coverage. Independent contractors, however, do not need their eligibility
<br />verified, allowing employers to hire undocumented workers and deprive them of benefits and insurance coverage.
<br />Slowey, Kim. (2019). "Contractor Faces 20 Years in Prison for Forced Labor." Construction Dive.
<br />Kev Finding: An owner of several construction companies was convicted on charges of forced labor. The contractor
<br />recruited undocumented workers from Mexico and then refused to pay them. If they complained, he threatened them —
<br />and their families —with violence or with deportation.
<br />Hallett, Nicole. (2018). "The Problem of Wage Theft." Yale Law & Policy Review, 37(1): 93.
<br />Kev Finding: A Memorandum of Understanding was in place between the Department of Labor and the Immigration and
<br />Customs Enforcement agency that prevented undocumented workers from being deported if their immigration status was
<br />uncovered as a result of investigations into labor violations. When these memoranda expire, they may face deportation,
<br />which disincentivizes immigrants from reporting labor violations.
<br />Cooper, David and Teresa Kroeger. (2017). Employers Steal Billions from Workers' Paychecks Each Year:
<br />Survey Data Show Millions of Workers Are Paid Less than the Minimum Wage, At Significant Cost to
<br />Taxpayers and State Economies. Economic Policy Institute.
<br />Kev Finding: Nationwide, wage theft costs up to $15 billion. Misclassification is one tactic that enables wage theft. Due to
<br />fear of deportation, immigrant workers are more likely to endure harmful and exploitative working conditions without
<br />reporting them. They are also less aware of appropriate reporting avenues.
<br />Alexander, Charlotte. (2017). "Misclassification and Antidiscrimination: An Empirical Analysis." Minnesota
<br />Law Review, 101. 907-962.
<br />Kev Finding: According to Census and Social Security Administration data, the industries where misclassification is most
<br />prevalent include real estate, construction, truck drivers, and barbers and cosmetologists. In the years 2005-2014,
<br />misclassification was brought as an argument in Title VII discrimination cases predominantly by physicians, surgeons, and
<br />insurance salespeople. This suggests the workers most affected do not pursue legal recourse due to lack of resources.
<br />Carre, Frangoise. (2015).(In)dependent Contractor Misclassification. Economic Policy Institute.
<br />Kev Finding: State -level studies show that 10%-20% of employers misclassify workers independent contractors. High
<br />workers' compensation premiums in injury -prone industries such as construction create a financial incentive for employers
<br />to hire workers, such as undocumented workers, who will not be covered by workers' compensation.
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