FIGHTING WAGE THEFT

What is Construction Wage Watch?

Rampant wage theft at construction projects across California and the country has resulted in countless crime scenes where workers experience miscarriages of justice. Construction Wage Watch – an initiative of Carpenters Local 46 – is fighting for workers seeking justice by shedding light on these crimes while uplifting worker voices and stories. By sharing these experiences of injustice with other workers, the public, and elected officials we are highlighting those crime scenes of the past, while bringing change to this remorselessly toxic business culture.

Construction Wage Watch has Case Files where crimes against workers - such as wage theft and worker misclassification - have already been perpetrated, as well as Ongoing Investigations we are closely monitoring to ensure any crimes committed against workers are properly adjudicated.

Wage Theft Facts

Wage theft is a significant issue affecting millions of American workers. Here are key facts that highlight its prevalence, impact, and the ongoing struggle for fair compensation in the workforce.

The Cost of Misclassification for Workers and States

A typical construction worker, as an independent contractor, would lose as much as $19,526 per year in income and job benefits compared with what they would have earned as an employee.

READ THE Economic Policy Institute story HERE.

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Fact Sheet: Labor Trafficking

Labor trafficking is a serious issue that  affects an estimated 12 million workers  nationwide. Pursuant to The Trafficking  Victims Protection Act of 2000, labor  trafficking involves: “The recruitment,  harboring, transportation, provision,  or obtaining of a person for labor or  services, through the use of force, fraud or  coercion for the purpose of subjection to  involuntary servitude, peonage, debt  bondage or slavery.”

View Fact Sheet

Up to 2.1 Million U.S. Construction Workers Are Illegally Misclassified or Paid Off the Books

Nationally, 1.1 to 2.1 million construction workers are conservatively estimated to be misclassified or paid off the books in 2021. This represents between 10 percent and 19 percent of the construction industry’s workforce. Employers who misclassify their workers or pay them off the books are underpaying workers and shortchanging payments toward legally required benefits (such as Social Security, unemployment insurance, and workers’ compensation) by over $12 billion per year, costing taxpayers between $5 and $10 billion per year.

.ead The Century Foundation article

Misclassification of Workers Costs California Taxpayers More than $3 Billion per Year

According to the California Department of Labor Standards Enforcement, misclassification of workers—just one other type of wage theft—costs the state more than $7 billion every year.

Read the The Economic Policy Institute article

CA: Wage Theft Claims Since 2017 Total More Than Half a Billion Dollars

CBS News analysis of data obtained by CalMatters, from the California Department of Industrial Relations, found tens of thousands of cases across California: 63,442 claims of wage theft since 2017, totaling more than half a billion dollars, at $558,617,654.

Watch the CBS News story

26% of Private-Sector, Nonunion Workers Experienced Wage Theft in 2019

Further, as many as 26% of the 17.75 million private-sector, nonunion workers subject to forced arbitration, or 4.6 million workers, experienced wage theft in 2019.

Link to Fact Sheet

It Takes Nearly Four Times Longer than State Law Permits for Average Wage Theft Case to Reach a Decision

California’s wage claim system is so backlogged it takes nearly four times longer than state law permits for the average case to reach a decision, according to a CalMatters’ analysis of state data. Most workers drop or settle their claims before a hearing. Judgments are issued if a worker persists and wins.

Read the Cal Matters article

Of Employers Issued Court Judgements in Wage Claim Cases, Only 1 in 7 Paid Workers Full Amount

California issued $32.7 million worth of wage judgments to more than 1,800 employers in 2017. Five years later, 1 in 7 of the debts were recorded as satisfied. Employers in subsequent years paid even fewer.

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