Low Wage Workers Are Getting Screwed

It turns out low wage workers are more likely to get taken advantage of by their employers. A recent study (payed for by the Ford, Joyce, Haynes and Russell Sage Foundations) finds that employees in low wage jobs are more likely to be asked to work off the clock and not get paid. If they get hurt at the job, they are talked out of claiming workman's compensation.

From The Times:

“'The conventional wisdom has been that to the extent there were violations, it was confined to a few rogue employers or to especially disadvantaged workers, like undocumented immigrants,' said Nik Theodore, an author of the study and a professor of urban planning and policy at the University of Illinois, Chicago. 'What our study shows is that this is a widespread phenomenon across the low-wage labor market in the United States.'"

They also discuss how people were penalized for trying to create a union or complaining about salary.

It is amazing how employers take advantage of those most vulnerable in our society. What a sad state of affairs for this country.