It really amazes me how far the United States has come down. Once a bastion of ethics and family values, once a place that was admired for its character as much as its possessions, now its just a quickly rotting, former superpower that resembles a Third World nation more by each passing day.
Case in point: up until about say that late 1980s, people and employers used to actually care about their employees, and about what they did and how it would be viewed. Well, thanks to the Clinton 8-year term, we've quickly gone from a nation that at least tried to be honest to one that not only doesn't care, but tries to lie, cheat and otherwise steal from others--so long as we don't get caught and sued for doing it. That said, what is troubling (among so many things) is how employers so widely give employees as little as possible, and even try to avoid paying a fair wage, then even avoid paying things such as overtime.
I happen to work in such a place, and I sadly admit to having worked in another place just like it before. The "justification" for paying the lower wage is "well, [insert name of city/town] is a smaller place than [insert name of closest larger city], so we just can't afford to pay more." Then the next thing that happens is they don't pay overtime, contrary to federal law. To be specific: federal law is so precise, that even if an employee signs an agreement to forego being paid overtime, this is ILLEGAL and the employer in question is still supposed to pay it--no later than a 2 week interval after the hours in question were worked. It turns out that because I'm "being trained" in a certain capacity that makes it "ok" to screw me out of overtime (defined as ANY work over 40 hours in a one week period), and therefore pay all time over 40 hours as "straight time." At first I thought of giving said employer the benefit of a doubt. But when I saw deals ranging from 20-60% of transactions from say $25,000 up to over 1,000,000, I immediately see more than sufficient money is being earned (due to the volume of jobs in a month) to pay everyone overtime, plus give them raises where raises are called for. Instead, even once a person is "converted" to full-time status, the person only earns "comp. time," something that an attorney well-versed in the field said was illegal as hell, as ALL overtime MUST be paid in CASH. Of course, irony of ironies...!!! I happen to work at a place where the owner IS an attorney, and therefore is more qualified than anyone to know at least ten times over that NOT paying overtime at 1.5x the normal hourly rate is ILLEGAL. But, as far as the attorney's "compliance" with overtime rules goes, it only extends to posting the state/federal poster in the kitchen about overtime compensation, general minimum wage rules, etc. So in my case, that amounts to ~ $75 every two weeks in overtime I'm not paid as I should be. Not a lot, right? Well, even if that 'paltry' sum were multiplied by the place's # of employees, that amounts to a considerable $1125 every two weeks that is not paid. To top that off, wages at this 'place of business' are at least $1.50/hr. below what should be (even for the area). Add it up, and that alone (times the # of employees and just a straight 80 hours every two weeks by all involved) is $1800 NOT paid every two weeks--for let's say a round figure of $3,000 during that time; multiply that times 26 weeks, and you get a whopping $78,000 of unpaid wages yearly by way of lower wages and unpaid overtime due employees. But wait! Here's something that makes it all right: the boss "treats" all the employees to fully-paid lunch once a month, where everyone goes to the same low-priced restaurant. So, assuming everyone has the most expensive menu item plus a drink (with a 20% gratuity for the large party), that's $300 (x 12 = $3600/yr). Assuming everyone got the same xmas bonus of $200 cash, that's $3000. So to this point, we have at least $78,000 in ill-gotten gains, but a 'generous payout' of $6600 to employees, the net illegal gain to the owner is still a considerable $71,400/yr.!!! To be fair, this is a very conservative estimate, especially given the greater amounts of overtime other employees work, so a more representative total would be about $75,000/yr., still after aforementioned 'generous' disbursements to employees. Then, if you assume there are 70 jobs per month, with an average transaction being $50,000, that would equal $3.5 million/mo.; with the company's 'cut' of between 40-60% on those, that means anywhere from $1.4-2.1 million is made each month. This is WITHOUT considering the occasional $1 million deal that occasionally arrives, so with a cut of 40-60%, that alone is a staggering $400,000-$600,000 shot in the arm.
It is truly hard to believe that there could be any assertion whatsover this employer "can't afford" to pay higher hourly wages, plus not pay regular overtime in cash as federal law demands. However, after my last job where I called the Federal Wage & Hour Commission 6 times to prosecute that employer for failing to pay overtime (and it took no action), the sad reality is that IF you can get their attention and UNLESS they 'feel like' upholding the law on the average citizen's behalf, the normal, working-class person is at the mercy of law-breaking, small-time employers all the way up to larger public schools and mega corporations. I can personally testify to the number of times where it was even a "no-no" for me to attempt to engage in any kind of negotiations for higher pay initially, although in past years I would have been entitled to do so and even expected to do so during an interview. Now, it is just 'take-it-or-leave-it' and if you don't like it, just heave-ho and try to not end up on the street--despite your blood, sweat and tears you put into your vast education and wide-ranging experience. If that isn't insulting and belittling enough, said employer might go to India, China or someplace like that where it can get well-educated (or well-enough educated) labor, but that will work for anywhere from 66-75% less money--plus no benefits to those workers! So it is a real challenge to go to work when the job itself is something one could enjoy, but then there's all these illegal reminders of everything that isn't done. Even when you get the occasional 'reward,' it turns out it is only giving you a infinitesimal fraction of the money you earned but were never paid. All that "justified" by the place one lives, and how tough it is to "run a business" or whatever flavor-of-the-day excuse might be in vogue. All this--when money is being made hand over fist--but all the workers there (because of the very low educational level of people in the area) except moi don't even know how much money is being made, nor that they have rights far beyond what they are told. The sad fact is U.S. employers by and large are only looking out for their bottom line, and there's no longer any widespread nor measurable concern about keeping qualified employees, nor even about making sure they're happy. Now, it's more of an effort to obfuscate what's happening, painting a picture of difficulty and "it's hard to make ends meet" rather than just being honest, paying fair wages and complying with the law. Does anyone else think there is something wrong with this picture?
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