Worker Justice Wisconsin is organizing workers across the community to fight wage theft.
In the United States, wage theft costs workers, their families and communities, billions–yes, billions–of dollars every year. Wage theft occurs when an employer doesn’t pay their employee all of the money they’re owed for the work performed. Wage theft can take many different forms. Underreporting hours, not paying over time, not paying tips, deducting breaks that last less than thirty minutes, and simply not paying, among many others, are just some of the forms wage theft can take.
On the one hand, the United States and Wisconsin have had anti-wage theft laws on the books since the early twentieth century. On the other hand, wage theft is often treated as a civil offense and the consequences for employers–other than paying the wages already owed–are almost nonexistent.
For example, if a cashier steals $500 from the register, the boss can call the police and the law will treat them as a criminal. But if the boss steals $500 from the cashier’s paycheck, that cashier must go through a lengthy civil process that can take months or years. Even if the judgement is in the worker’s favor, sometimes employers ignore the order, and it’s only when the district attorney or Attorney General takes the case that anything will happen. There are no penalties for the employer.
To make matters worse, wage theft most often affects low-wage workers from marginalized communities such as immigrants who are unfamiliar with the U.S. legal system or feel that they cannot speak up.
This is wrong, plain and simple.
But why does it happen?
In short, because politicians and employers have not felt the heat. Until workers organize their workplaces and communities to stop wage theft and stiffen the penalties for employers who steal, our legal system will continue to favor employers.
That is why Worker Justice Wisconsin launched a Wage Theft Campaign to educate workers and their allies about wage theft, to organize them around instances of theft, and to mobilize the community to pressure policymakers to strengthen our laws and enforcement. But, this will not happen if we don’t organize! Policy and justice are the product of organizing, not the other way around.
Almost weekly, Worker Justice receives a new case of wage theft. We want to share with you one of our latest and most outrageous cases to demonstrate the seriousness of this issue and the necessity of grassroots organizing.
Agustín, Enzo, and Makalister were owed $36,000 by LNR Services, a landscaping company in Richland Center, WI. They went three months without receiving a single penny of the money owed to them for their work. In October 2024, they came to Worker Justice Wisconsin to learn how to fight back and get what is legally theirs. Although the company tried to divide and conquer Agustín, Enzo, and Makalister, and cheat them out of their money, these workers remained united throughout the process and refused to settle for less.
They have an important message for all workers: there is strength in unity! We have to learn our rights, organize, and push back against unscrupulous employers if we’re going to put a stop to wage theft in Wisconsin once and for all! If your employer is stealing your wages, join the grassroots movement at Worker Justice Wisconsin. Together, we can build a better and fairer society! Since making this video below, they recovered another $16,755 in stolen wages from the same employer.