By Michael Shields
Everyone who works — no matter their race, background, or job they do — should be paid their full wages for all the hours they put in. But too often in Ohio, people go to work and create wealth for their employers and the economy, only to have their bosses steal from them. My latest report finds that Ohio employers steal wages from some 213,000 Ohioans each year by paying below the minimum wage. The typical victim who stays on the job for a year is cheated of nearly $2,900: a quarter of their take-home pay.
Dishonest employers can steal from anyone, but my research found that workers who speak Spanish as their first language and those born outside the U.S. are especially likely to be paid less than the minimum wage, which is illegal. Black and white workers are stolen from at about the same rate, but Black people tend to work more hours and have more pay stolen, a sign that they may have fewer options to leave an exploitive employer for a better job. Three in five victims are women.
Employers in the leisure and hospitality industry were responsible for half the minimum wage theft cases I found. Ohio’s sub-minimum wage for tipped workers opens the door to wage theft, along with other forms of abuse including workplace sexual harassment from bosses and patrons alike. Employers of tipped workers can claim those workers’ tips to offset up to half the minimum wage. If the wage and tips together fall short of the full $9.30 wage, then employers must pay the difference, but the system leaves it to workers to know and assert their rights. How many do?
Most wage theft victims never come forward. They may not know their rights, think nothing will be done for them, or fear retaliation from their employers. Because state lawmakers dedicate too few resources to wage and hour enforcement, too often those fears materialize. Ohio staffs just five wage and hour investigators and a supervisor, for a workforce of 5.8 million. The U.S. Department of Labor has another 22, who can enforce the federal minimum wage – just $7.25 an hour – and overtime, but not Ohio’s $9.30 wage.
Paying below the minimum wage is just one type of wage theft. Other forms include refusing to pay time-and-a-half for overtime; requiring people to work during unpaid break times; misclassifying workers as salaried so they are ineligible for overtime, or as independent contractors, which leaves workers unprotected by labor laws and sticks them with the boss’s payroll tax bill. Some employers hire crews for short term projects and then never pay them at all.
All these actions are illegal. But dishonest employers steal from workers because they make a calculated decision that they can get away with it. That needs to change.
In the enforcement vacuum Ohio policymakers have created, some cities are stepping forward to protect workers. Cincinnati in 2016 passed an anti-wage theft ordinance that bars companies with recent wage theft findings from receiving city contracts or tax incentives. Columbus followed suit in 2020, creating a staffing position to make sure the law is enforced. Today the Guardians for Fair Work is urging Cleveland City Council to do the same.
An honest day’s work deserves an honest day’s pay. It’s time for policymakers at all levels of government to take a stand with working people, and make sure that when Ohioans go to work, they are paid every dollar they earn.
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Michael Shields is a researcher with Policy Matters Ohio. His work focuses on the labor market and job quality. Currently working on a report identifying barriers to the job market for people with criminal convictions. Mike holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and history from the University of Akron, and is completing a masters of economics at Cleveland State.
