• UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    I don’t love the message, because that’s not what wage theft is. Wage theft is literally not paying people their due salary.

    This is wage theft

    Several of the company’s employees told the Herald-Leader in January that ARC regularly paid workers late. In Perry County, several employees reported going weeks without a paycheck.

    If you want a list of examples of wage theft this is it. Not paying Min Wage. Not paying due overtime. Classifying workers incorrectly to evade labor laws. Not paying your interns. Not paying into your staffer’s SS/Medicare.

    It has nothing to do with increasing wages to match profits. This is when you are defrauding your staff of their contractually due salary.

    • SomeoneSomewhere@lemmy.nz
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      4 months ago

      Yeah, doing this simply devalues the term ‘wage theft’. It’s like calling catcalling ‘rape’, except that catcalling might actually be illegal.

      • Fleur__@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        Honestly it’s your problem if you think rape is less of an issue because of something that very obviously does not happen all that often.

        • SomeoneSomewhere@lemmy.nz
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          4 months ago

          It’s a ‘boy who cried wolf’ problem. If you start using the term inaccurately, at first you get lots of attention, then very quickly everyone assumes that when you say you were raped, someone actually just walked in on you in the bathroom.

          • Fleur__@lemmy.world
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            4 months ago

            Except nobody thinks that about rape at this doesn’t happen often enough to actually cause the change you’re describing

      • zalgotext@sh.itjust.works
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        4 months ago

        Yeah the point is “if profits go up, so should wages, else you’re being taken advantage of” but that’s a little more long winded than “wage theft”

    • Fleur__@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Yeah you’re right but you’ve missed the mark because it’s not about the literal definition in this context its about the unfair nature of profits not being distributed fairly. That is the people in charge of valuing the work are unfairly valuing their own limited contribution above the people actually doing the thing. By looking at it in this way it can be seen as a form of theft and as the theft is happening in the form of their wages being lower than they should I don’t think calling it wage theft is that big of an exaggeration from its dictionary definition.

      Also you’re stupid for being pedantic when big bird is right there about to make you wish for the comfort of being smug about definitions on an internet meme

      • SomeoneSomewhere@lemmy.nz
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        4 months ago

        The thing is that it muddies the waters.

        • Wage theft is criminal. Basically everyone agrees it’s immoral and illegal.

        • Statistically it’s the biggest form of theft in the US

        • If you become aware of it you should report it, perhaps get a lawyer, and expect a payout.

        If you expand the definition to include undervaluing staff, none of the above are true.

        • Fleur__@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          The legal use doesn’t change with colloquial use and definitions are kept specifically within the laws regardless of common use so it won’t change any outcomes?