By Natalie Yahr Feb 13, 2025
Wage theft costs American workers as much as $50 billion a year, according to a 2014 estimate by the Economic Policy Institute, a pro-labor think tank.
The practice can include not paying overtime, requiring employees to work after they clock out, or even threatening to call immigration authorities instead of paying a worker.
The U.S. Department of Labor recovered about $660 million in wages owed to workers across the country from 2021 to 2023. That figure excludes people who didn’t file claims or whose employers refused to pay.
In Madison, one of the people working to stop wage theft and recover stolen wages is Socorro Cortez, an organizer with advocacy nonprofit Worker Justice Wisconsin. She leads a wage theft awareness campaign the organization launched two years ago.
For Cortez, the work is personal. She said she first came to Worker Justice Wisconsin for help after experiencing wage theft at her own job.
In 2022, Cortez helped a group of screen printers and seamstresses file a complaint seeking more than $8,000 in unpaid wages from their boss at Madison’s Crushin’ It Apparel. Last December, after being sued by the state’s Department of Justice, the company agreed to pay the wages, plus interest.
Historically, wage theft was seldom prosecuted, left instead to civil enforcement through labor departments and private lawsuits. In a 2021 study, the Economic Policy Institute found criminal prosecution was becoming increasingly common.
Last year, U.S. Rep. Seth Magaziner, D-Rhode Island, introduced a bill that would make wage theft a felony across the country. The bill never received a vote.
Cortez is hoping to change Wisconsin law to increase enforcement.
“There’s no law that criminalizes wage theft. We want to make (the problem) more visible, to show that it happens a lot,” she said.
In an interview with the Cap Times, Cortez discussed preventing wage theft, seeking harsher punishments for employers who do it, and teaching immigrants their rights. Her responses have been edited for length and clarity.
What is wage theft and how does it usually look in Madison?
What we see most often here is that people don’t know how to read their check stubs, or they know how to read them but they don’t know how to ensure that they’re being paid (correctly).
Sometimes people will come to me and say they’ve experienced discrimination (at work). To fill out their complaint form, I’d ask for their check and discover that they weren’t getting paid $10 an hour. They were getting $8. They would say, “They didn’t tell me.” That’s a form of wage theft.
What do you wish more people knew about wage theft?
I would like to invite them to get involved. There are various ways they can do that. I give workshops here in the (Worker Justice Wisconsin) office twice a month on the basics, like how to read your check stub and file a complaint. I also give monthly workshops at libraries and in the Allied Drive neighborhood. I knock on doors in that neighborhood, too, to educate the community and put them on alert.
We have membership meetings (on the first Tuesday of each month), not just about wage theft, where we discuss what’s going on in the community and how they can get involved so we can grow this movement. So I would like to invite people to come help me educate the community.
One person who came said, “I worked 70 hours and they only paid me my regular wage.” They didn’t pay them overtime. When something happens to one person, usually it happens to others, too.
So I asked, “Do you know someone else there? Can you ask them if they’ve been paid correctly?” It turned out there were three of them. Those three people were owed more than $7,000.
Are undocumented people less likely to report what happens to them at work?
Yes, for two reasons. One, because they’re afraid because of their status. Two, because they don’t know their rights. So for me the important thing is education.
That’s one of the reasons I decided to go knock on doors, because I would always see people who would tell me, “Socorro, I don’t have a Social Security number.” I would say, “It doesn’t matter. If you worked, they have to pay you.”
Do you think President Donald Trump’s threats against immigrants will affect your work?
Honestly, I don’t think it will have an effect because I’m making sure to go give workshops in places where I know the (immigrant) community is. I bring cards, flyers. Some people give me their numbers and I message them on WhatsApp. I make sure to give the best I can.
We in the Latino community, if we get information that we know will be helpful, we spread it. I come from that community, so I understand that. And when people see in my face that I’m Latina, they find me more trustworthy.
If someone thinks they’ve experienced wage theft, what’s the process for making a complaint?
If they know me, they can call me. If not, they can call our office (608-255-0376) or get in touch online, and I’ll call them back. If I determine that it’s a big group of affected workers, I’ll meet with them immediately. If not, I have a workshop every two weeks.
We fill out a complaint form with information about the person, the employer, when they worked, how much they’re owed, and we send it to the Department of Workforce Development. The investigator receives the complaint and sends a copy to the employer and says, “This person says that you owe them. Prove to me that you paid them and don’t owe them.” But that can take years depending on how the employer responds.
If I decide to quit and I take (my work) laptop, they can call the police because I stole it. But if they owe me my last paycheck and I come to pick it up and they say, “We’re not going to pay you,” the worst that could happen is (the police) would give them a warning.
What are your plans and hopes for Worker Justice Wisconsin’s wage theft campaign?
My hope is to grow the membership more this year because I want more people to help me spread this message. That’s my big goal — to have more of everything I’ve mentioned. I think it’s possible, despite the circumstances with Trump’s administration, which is creating fear in the community. It’s for that reason that I’ve been going out more often to tell people that life goes on, that this (problem) is happening and it’s been happening for a long time.
Original Article: https://captimes.com/news/business/wage-theft-costs-workers-millions-this-madison-organizer-wants-it-to-stop/article_7ca83aa4-e980-11ef-a132-73ce54a20881.html