Tag Archives: wage theft

We Support Brandworkers

Attending the 2013 Brandworkers Awards Dinner

On Wednesday October 16, several members of our firm attended the Annual Brandworkers’ Dinner held at the Angel Orensanz Foundation in NYC. Brandworkers was founded in 2007 by retail and food employees who identified a need for an organization dedicated to protecting and advancing their rights. The organization was launched based on a simple principle: that working people themselves, equipped with powerful social change tools, were uniquely positioned to make positive change on the job and in society.

By empowering retail and food employees with social change tools, Brandworkers’ Focus on the Food Chain and Legal Defense-Plus programs have recovered close to $1 million in unpaid wages and compensation for discrimination; improved working conditions for hundreds of workers; and have helped workers develop as powerful social change leaders.

We look forward to continuing our  support of their mission!

Prior results do not guarantee outcomes.
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Wage Theft Is Illegal And Immoral

Kim Bobo

Today’s post comes to us from our colleague Leonard Jernigan of North Carolina. The work Kim Bobo is doing on behalf of working people is commendable and we hope that anyone who feels that they have been stolen from by their employer get in touch with her or us.

Kim Bobo, the Executive Director of Interfaith Worker Justice and the author of “Wage Theft in America,” recently spoke at Duke Divinity School and then at N.C. Central University School of Law in Durham, N.C. Ms. Bobo, who was awarded the Pacem in Terris Peace Award in 2012 (other recipients are John F. Kennedy, Mother Teresa, and Martin Luther King, Jr.), has a simple reason for the work she does: as a person of faith, she recognizes injustice and seeks to correct it. Wage theft, which is defined as stealing from workers what they have rightfully earned, is not only illegal it is immoral. She is simply trying to get people to do something about it.

In September a $4 million settlement was announced by the Harvard Club of Boston for not paying tips to its staff.

At N.C Central law school, Bobo spoke to students about waiters not getting tips, even though the restaurant collected those tips when the bill was paid, and asked if anyone in the room had experienced that type of theft. Indeed, one student shared a story about working at an exclusive club in South Carolina where that practice was routine. After reporting the problem and getting nowhere, he finally gave up and quit. He is still bitter about it. In September, a $4 million settlement was announced by the Harvard Club of Boston for not paying tips to its staff. Small amounts can add up for the employer.

Bobo gave some action items to the audience that I wanted to share with you.  She said we need to:

  • start recognizing the seriousness of the problem;
  • start getting attention about the problem in order to fix it;
  • stay focused; and
  • if necessary, cross of the lines of our comfort zone.

For more information about Interfaith Worker Justice, go to: www.iwj.org/

 

Prior results do not guarantee outcomes.
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