Thursday, March 26, 2009
Responding to widespread reports that the agency in charge of investigating wage complaints by low-income workers was less than helpful and, indeed, tended to take the side of employers, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) conducted undercover tests to see if the allegations were true. The GAO created fictitious employees and fictitious employees and then had the “employees” file complaints with the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD). In only one of ten cases (in Montebello, CA), did WHD investigators act properly.
Among the failed cases:
-A fictitious house painter in Dallas, TX reported that he did not receive his last paycheck. The fictitious employer told the WHD investigator that he would pay. When the employee called back after three weeks and said that he still had not been paid, the investigator recorded the case in the WHD database as “agreed to pay.”
-A fictitious receptionist in Clifton, VA complained to a WHD investigator that he was not being paid minimum wage. When contacted by the investigator, the fictitious employer refused to pay. The investigator accepted this refusal and told the employee there was nothing WHD could do because it was underfunded and the employee should contact his Congressman.
-When a lawn mower in Dallas complained that he was not paid minimum wage, the investigator lied to the employee, claiming that he checked the IRS database for the (fictitious) employer and that his gross revenue did not meet the minimum standard for coverage. In fact, there was no such revenue report, the WHD does not have access to the IRS database and the case file showed that the WHD investigator had never contacted the IRS. This case was referred to the Department of Labor’s Office of the Inspector General for further investigation.
-David Wallechinsky
Wage and Hour Division’s Complaint Intake and Investigative Processed Leave Low Wage Workers Vulnerable to Wage Theft (statement by Gregory D. Kutz and Jonathan T. Meyer, Government Accountability Office) (PDF)
Labor Agency Is Failing Workers, Report Says (by Steven Greenhouse, New York Times)
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