The lawsuit is part of a flood of recent cases — brought in California and across the nation — that accuse employers of violating minimum wage and overtime laws, erasing work hours and wrongfully taking employees’ tips. Worker advocates call these practices “wage theft,” insisting it has become far too prevalent.
Some federal and state officials agree. They assert that more companies are violating wage laws than ever before, pointing to the record number of enforcement actions they have pursued. They complain that more employers — perhaps motivated by fierce competition or a desire for higher profits — are flouting wage laws.via www.nytimes.com
Monday, I wrote Here's Where Employee Engagement Went. Basically, since 2003 America's top corporations targets ... 91 percent of their profits to their shareholders, leaving a scant 9 percent for investments, research and development, expansions, cash reserves or, God forbid, raises. via www.washingtonpost.com
Then I read the above, how companies, some of them America's top corporations were flouting wage laws, especially among their lowest paid workers. Doesn't send a very good message to anyone, except their shareholders I guess.
Now, the first article about corporate profits, offered more in-depth research and data. The second article about some of the same companies flouting wage laws is more anecdotal, softer in its reporting.
But, then I find things like this:
[T]he income of the top 1 percent nearly quadrupled from 1979 to 2007, while the typical family’s barely budged. Economic Policy Institute
Since 2000, while productivity has increased nearly 23 percent, the hourly wage of the median worker (the worker how makes more than half of works but less than the other half) rose just 0.5 percent. Median hourly compensation (all wages and benefits) rose only 4.0 percent.State of Working America
If you can't squeeze blood from a stone, you can't squeeze any more enthusiasm from a burned out, disillusioned workforce who sees there's no there, there, if there means an upside to commitment and loyalty and going the extra mile each and every day while you see everyone but your colleagues made rich.
That's where employee engagement went. Low wages. An unequal participation in the benefits of their profit-making labors. That's disengagement, disparity, disillusionment. In the vaccum of employee engagement, these qualities rush in.
No amount of free pizza or pastries or knick-knacks, paddy-wacks, give a dog a bone, or cultural alignment and pretty colors and glossy materials can change that, especially if you never invite them to the meetings where you wring your hands and discuss the 'employee engagement problem.'
Where your company invests and who your company rewards is your cultural alignment, no matter what your PR department or Human Resources or Chief Happiness Officer claims otherwise. And if you're investing in the happiness and returns of everyone but your employees ...? Well, don't expect your employees to engage with 'employee engagement programs' any more than they engage with their work. After all, they know you're not fully-engaged, either.
Since 2000, while productivity has increased nearly 23 percent, the hourly wage of the median worker (the worker who makes more than half of workers but less than the other half) rose just 0.5 percent. Median hourly compensation (all wages and benefits) rose only 4.0 percent. - See more at: http://www.stateofworkingamerica.org/fact-sheets/wages/#sthash.zPGMD18w.dpufSince 2000, while productivity has increased nearly 23 percent, the hourly wage of the median worker (the worker who makes more than half of workers but less than the other half) rose just 0.5 percent. Median hourly compensation (all wages and benefits) rose only 4.0 percent. - See more at: http://www.stateofworkingamerica.org/fact-sheets/wages/#sthash.zPGMD18w.dpuf
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