Author(s): Bernhardt, Annette; Milkman, Ruth; Theodore, Nik; Heckathorn, Douglas D.; Auer, Miraba... more Author(s): Bernhardt, Annette; Milkman, Ruth; Theodore, Nik; Heckathorn, Douglas D.; Auer, Mirabai; DeFilippis, James; Gonzalez, Ana Luz; Narro, Victor; Perelshteyn, Jason | Abstract: This report exposes a world of work in which the core protections that many Americans take for granted—the right to be paid at least the minimum wage, the right to be paid for overtime hours, the right to take meal breaks, access to workers’ compensation when injured, and the right to advocate for better working conditions—are failing significant numbers of workers. The sheer breadth of the problem, spanning key industries in the economy, as well as its profound impact on workers, entailing significant economic hardship, demands urgent attention.
The United States is facing a workplace enforcement crisis, with widespread violations of many lo... more The United States is facing a workplace enforcement crisis, with widespread violations of many long-established legal standards. The crisis involves laws dating back to the New Deal era that require employers to pay most workers at least the minimum wage and time-and-a-half for overtime hours and that guarantee the right to organize and bring complaints about working conditions. Also violated frequently today are more recent laws designed to protect workers' health and safety, laws that require employers to carry workers' compensation insurance in case of on-the-job injury, and laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of age, race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, or disability. Los Angeles, as this report documents, has an especially high rate of workplace violations, even relative to the nation's other large cities. This report focuses on the findings of a survey of 1,815 workers in Los Angeles County, conducted in conjunction with similar surveys of Chicago and New York City in 2008. Using a rigorous methodology, this research study included interviews with unauthorized immigrants and other vulnerable workers who are often missed in standard surveys. The goal was to obtain accurate and statistically representative estimates of the prevalence of workplace violations. All findings are adjusted so that they are representative of the larger population of front-line workers (that is, excluding managers and professional and technical workers) in low-wage industries in L.A. County in 2008. This population includes about 744,220 workers, or 17.0 percent of all workers in L.A. County. The survey found that low-wage workers in Los Angeles regularly experience violations of basic laws that mandate a minimum wage and overtime pay and are frequently forced to work off the clock or during their breaks. Other violations documented in the survey include lack of required payroll documentation, being paid late, tip stealing, and employer retaliation. In nearly every case, the violation rates are higher in Los Angeles than in New York and Chicago. Almost 30 percent of the L.A. workers sampled were paid less than the minimum wage in the work week preceding the survey, a higher violation rate than in New York City, but with no statistically significant difference from Chicago. The minimum wage violations were not trivial in magnitude: 63.3 percent of workers were underpaid by more than $1.00 per hour. Among all L.A. respondents, 21.3 percent worked more than forty hours for a single employer during the previous work week and were therefore at risk for an overtime violation. Over three-fourths (79.2 percent) of these at-risk workers were not paid the legally required overtime rate by their employers. Like minimum wage violations, overtime violations were far from trivial in magnitude. Those L.A. respondents with an overtime violation had worked an average of ten overtime hours during the previous work week. Nearly one in five L.A. respondents (17.6 percent) stated that they had worked before and/or after their regular shifts in the previous work week and were thus at risk for off-the-clock violations. Within this group, 71.2 percent did not receive any pay at all for the work they performed outside their regular shift. Among all L.A. respondents, 89.6 percent worked enough consecutive hours to be legally entitled to a meal break. However, more than three-fourths of these at-risk workers (80.3 percent) experienced a meal break violation in the previous work week. The L.A. meal break violation rate was higher than that found in New York City, but Chicago had the lowest rate of the three cities. California law requires employers to provide workers ten-minute rest breaks during each four-hour shift (or two ten-minute rest breaks in a standard eight-hour shift). However, this requirement is often violated. The survey found that 81.7 percent of respondents eligible for rest breaks were either denied a break entirely or had a shortened break during the previous work week.
offered helpful advice about the intricacies of RDS fielding and data analysis. Christine D'Onofr... more offered helpful advice about the intricacies of RDS fielding and data analysis. Christine D'Onofrio, Michael Ettlinger, Mark Levitan, and Jeremy Reiss provided us expert advice about payroll tax deductions. On health and safety issues we relied heavily on
inimum wage vertime vertime eal breaks eal breaks est breaks est breaks est breaks etaliation eta... more inimum wage vertime vertime eal breaks eal breaks est breaks est breaks est breaks etaliation etaliation orkers' comp orkers' comp ight to organize ight to organize ff the clock work ff the clock work
Author(s): Bernhardt, Annette; Milkman, Ruth; Theodore, Nik; Heckathorn, Douglas D.; Auer, Miraba... more Author(s): Bernhardt, Annette; Milkman, Ruth; Theodore, Nik; Heckathorn, Douglas D.; Auer, Mirabai; DeFilippis, James; Gonzalez, Ana Luz; Narro, Victor; Perelshteyn, Jason | Abstract: This report exposes a world of work in which the core protections that many Americans take for granted—the right to be paid at least the minimum wage, the right to be paid for overtime hours, the right to take meal breaks, access to workers’ compensation when injured, and the right to advocate for better working conditions—are failing significant numbers of workers. The sheer breadth of the problem, spanning key industries in the economy, as well as its profound impact on workers, entailing significant economic hardship, demands urgent attention.
The United States is facing a workplace enforcement crisis, with widespread violations of many lo... more The United States is facing a workplace enforcement crisis, with widespread violations of many long-established legal standards. The crisis involves laws dating back to the New Deal era that require employers to pay most workers at least the minimum wage and time-and-a-half for overtime hours and that guarantee the right to organize and bring complaints about working conditions. Also violated frequently today are more recent laws designed to protect workers' health and safety, laws that require employers to carry workers' compensation insurance in case of on-the-job injury, and laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of age, race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, or disability. Los Angeles, as this report documents, has an especially high rate of workplace violations, even relative to the nation's other large cities. This report focuses on the findings of a survey of 1,815 workers in Los Angeles County, conducted in conjunction with similar surveys of Chicago and New York City in 2008. Using a rigorous methodology, this research study included interviews with unauthorized immigrants and other vulnerable workers who are often missed in standard surveys. The goal was to obtain accurate and statistically representative estimates of the prevalence of workplace violations. All findings are adjusted so that they are representative of the larger population of front-line workers (that is, excluding managers and professional and technical workers) in low-wage industries in L.A. County in 2008. This population includes about 744,220 workers, or 17.0 percent of all workers in L.A. County. The survey found that low-wage workers in Los Angeles regularly experience violations of basic laws that mandate a minimum wage and overtime pay and are frequently forced to work off the clock or during their breaks. Other violations documented in the survey include lack of required payroll documentation, being paid late, tip stealing, and employer retaliation. In nearly every case, the violation rates are higher in Los Angeles than in New York and Chicago. Almost 30 percent of the L.A. workers sampled were paid less than the minimum wage in the work week preceding the survey, a higher violation rate than in New York City, but with no statistically significant difference from Chicago. The minimum wage violations were not trivial in magnitude: 63.3 percent of workers were underpaid by more than $1.00 per hour. Among all L.A. respondents, 21.3 percent worked more than forty hours for a single employer during the previous work week and were therefore at risk for an overtime violation. Over three-fourths (79.2 percent) of these at-risk workers were not paid the legally required overtime rate by their employers. Like minimum wage violations, overtime violations were far from trivial in magnitude. Those L.A. respondents with an overtime violation had worked an average of ten overtime hours during the previous work week. Nearly one in five L.A. respondents (17.6 percent) stated that they had worked before and/or after their regular shifts in the previous work week and were thus at risk for off-the-clock violations. Within this group, 71.2 percent did not receive any pay at all for the work they performed outside their regular shift. Among all L.A. respondents, 89.6 percent worked enough consecutive hours to be legally entitled to a meal break. However, more than three-fourths of these at-risk workers (80.3 percent) experienced a meal break violation in the previous work week. The L.A. meal break violation rate was higher than that found in New York City, but Chicago had the lowest rate of the three cities. California law requires employers to provide workers ten-minute rest breaks during each four-hour shift (or two ten-minute rest breaks in a standard eight-hour shift). However, this requirement is often violated. The survey found that 81.7 percent of respondents eligible for rest breaks were either denied a break entirely or had a shortened break during the previous work week.
offered helpful advice about the intricacies of RDS fielding and data analysis. Christine D'Onofr... more offered helpful advice about the intricacies of RDS fielding and data analysis. Christine D'Onofrio, Michael Ettlinger, Mark Levitan, and Jeremy Reiss provided us expert advice about payroll tax deductions. On health and safety issues we relied heavily on
inimum wage vertime vertime eal breaks eal breaks est breaks est breaks est breaks etaliation eta... more inimum wage vertime vertime eal breaks eal breaks est breaks est breaks est breaks etaliation etaliation orkers' comp orkers' comp ight to organize ight to organize ff the clock work ff the clock work
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