A D’var Torah for Parshat Acharei Mot-Kedoshim
One of the most common, costly, and constant crimes in America is one that never makes the headlines: wage theft. Estimates are that workers lose from $15-$19 billion annually from just one form of wage theft: minimum wage violations. This affects all of us directly or indirectly — as beneficiaries and/or as victims.
This is in direct violation of rules of justice we learn in this week’s parshah. From Leviticus 19:11: “You shall not steal; you shall not deal deceitfully or falsely with one another.” From Leviticus 19:13, “You shall not defraud your fellow. You shall not commit robbery. The wages of a laborer shall not remain with you until morning.”
Most of the time we associate stealing with taking something from someone’s possession. Wage theft, though, is even more insidious. You are stealing a person’s time, energy, and lifeblood. It is a form of dehumanization and the objectification of a person — perhaps the purest form of unfettered capitalism.
Find more commentaries on Parshat Acharei Mot-Kedoshim.
What is wage theft?
Wage theft is the failure to pay workers the full wages to which they are legally entitled. Wage theft can take many forms, including but not limited to:
- Minimum wage violations: Paying workers less than the legal minimum wage.
- Overtime violations: Failing to pay nonexempt employees time and a half for hours worked in excess of 40 hours per week.
- Off-the-clock violations: Asking employees to work off the clock before or after their shifts (this is extremely common).
- Meal break violations: Denying workers their legal meal breaks.
- Illegal deductions: Taking illegal deductions from wages.
- Tipped minimum wage violations: Confiscating tips from workers or failing to pay tipped workers the difference between their tips and the legal minimum wage.
- Employee misclassification violations: Misclassifying employees as independent contractors to pay a wage lower than the legal minimum or to avoid paying overtime.
The workers most commonly affected are in construction, garment workers, nursing home workers (in one survey 60% of nursing homes were violating wage and hour laws), farmworkers, poultry workers, restaurant employees, and day laborers. Given the system we live in, it is no surprise that those stolen from most often are people of color, immigrants, and women, but this happens to white men as well. A 2009 survey found that 26% of low-wage workers experienced wage theft, but the National Employment Law Project (NELP) says that this statistic is likely a “very conservative estimate.”
While unions and enforced punitive government regulations are effective ways to stop wage theft, consumers can also play a useful role. We can support the passage of local, state, and federal bills that regulate labor conditions and pressure local agencies to enforce existing laws. These bills are regularly introduced, but most die.
Find more commentaries on Economic Inequality.
We are commanded to be holy in this parshah and “to not profit by the blood of our fellow.” (Leviticus 19:16) This means that we are obligated to do our best in preventing these abuses. Here are some things you can do:
- Give tips to restaurant staff in cash, not on credit cards, to ensure they keep the whole amount.
- Support ethical employers by using various consumer organizations that rate employers.
- Pay workers well around your home, such as landscapers, and ask how much they pay their staff.
- Discreetly have a conversation with employees about how they are treated in places you frequent (I have done this and it can be very revealing).
- Make sure your children and family members get paid.
- If you have a loved one in a nursing home, find out about how workers are treated there.
- Make sure the workers where you work are fairly paid; for instance, if you work in a law firm, have you asked how the clerical staff are paid?
- If you work in a congregation, check with your contractors/service providers how they pay their staff, and remember you are empowered to create contractor guidelines.
The persistence of wage theft is a widespread epidemic that costs workers, their families, and their communities billions of dollars each year. We can help change that by our words and actions. Let us be holy by bringing more justice into the world.
Rabbi Mordechai Liebling is the Senior Advisor at POWER Interfaith Pennsylvania. He was the founder and director of the Social Justice Organizing Program at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and was a founder of T’ruah. He will receive T’ruah’s Founder’s Award at our May gala.
