Stop wage theft!

Wage theft includes:

• Paying less than minimum wage

• Not paying for all hours worked

• Not paying vacation or public holiday pay

• Withholding tips

• Making illegal deductions

• Misclassifying employees as contractors

Wage Theft is Common Because It’s Profitable!

• In 2024, the Toronto Workers’ Action Centre surveyed over 500 people in low-wage work.
• 60 percent reported at least one pay-related violation. 28 percent lost under $500, and more than 20 percent lost over $5,000 in wages!
• 62 percent of those who worked overtime never received overtime premium pay or time off in lieu of overtime pay.
• 51 percent reported not getting paid for all the hours they worked.
• 46 percent reported not getting public holidays off with pay. With 9 public holidays a year, that’s a big loss!
• 47 percent reported being paid late.
• Over 20 percent said wage theft caused them to go into debt, and over 26 percent had to borrow money to pay their bills.

If you steal $5,000 from your boss, you will be arrested and charged with a criminal offense. But if your boss steals $5,000 from your wages, there is no punishment at all!

If you file a complaint against your employer, all they have to do is pay you what you were owed. They don’t have to pay a fine or even pay interest on the money they stole, no matter how long it takes to get it back — if you ever do get it back.

Between 2013 and 2023, the Ontario Ministry of Labour referred $102.4 million worth of confirmed wage-theft violations to the Ministry of Finance for collections. Only 22 percent of the amount owing was collected! That means workers with successful wage-theft claims are still owed a staggering $80 million dollars in stolen wages!

Let’s discuss what we can do to make this right!