Wage theft reported in Iowa using unpaid overtime as an example: http://www.iowapolicyproject.org/images/150818-wagetheft-Fig...
EPI has some good articles as well: https://www.epi.org/publication/wage-theft-bigger-problem-fo...
EPI has some good articles as well: https://www.epi.org/publication/wage-theft-bigger-problem-fo...
Let's take a relative look at the problem
> wage theft is costing workers more than $50 billion a year.
$50B / $6.5T [0] = 0.77% of wages are "stolen"
While not good and $50B is a huge amount, I'd argue this is not much of a problem but a rounding error. Unless we require some level of capitalization or reserves by small businesses, a large portion of this will never go away. I would be shocked if even half the restitutions were paid, this forced bankruptcy for most of these businesses I would guess.
[0]: https://www.bls.gov/cew/publications/employment-and-wages-an...
If store steals from an employee, they're told to pound sand at a state level office and hope and pray that some mid-level bureaucrat looks into the issue and writes a "stern letter".