Crain’s Chicago Business’s Expose and Investigative Report on the Problem of Wage Theft in the Chicago Area

Crain’s Chicago Business published an insightful investigative report on the problem of wage theft in the Chicago area.

The article states:

The effects of wage theft bleed out further, robbing the local economy of consumer spending, says Mr. Theodore, the author of the UIC study. Low-income families are more likely to spend their paychecks quickly on goods and services. When they don’t receive their wages, retailers and other merchants lose out. Lost sales also mean lost sales tax revenues for state and local governments. Those same governments are called on to fill the gap when underpaid workers can’t make ends meet. A UIC study released in August found that a quarter of warehouse workers employed in Will County relied on government assistance to cover basic needs. The report concludes that paying low wages to temporary workers—if they’re paid at all—”effectively shifts the burden of supporting families to the public.”
This holiday season, like every year, religious organizations across the country will distribute turkeys and other food to needy families, says Kim Bobo, executive director of Interfaith Worker Justice, a national workers rights group based in Chicago. But if those workers received all their pay, many could buy their own turkeys. People argue that in a time of economic crisis, workers should just be grateful to have a job and that society should do nothing that might burden employers during a recession, Ms. Bobo says. But it’s exactly because times are hard that workers need all the wages they are owed.

You can read the full article by clicking here.

Lubin Austermuehle is a Chicago wage and hour class action law firm that concentrates in statewide or nationwide class action or collective action lawsuits and has successfully prosecuted disputes all over the country including unpaid wage claims. Our Chicago and Waukegan overtime lawyers are intimately familiar with the factual and legal issues in large-scale wage claim litigation. We are adept at processing the large amounts of information common to class-actions and using our persuasive skills to get our clients the wages they rightfully earned. While Lubin Austermuehle is based in Chicago and Oak Brook, our unpaid wage attorneys represent clients throughout the country who have not been paid for the overtime hours that they worked or wages that they have earned. If you believe that you are owed overtime wages, contact one of our Chicago wage and hour attorneys by phone at 1 630-333-0333, or through our online form.