“Wage theft” is the common term used by worker rights advocates when an employer denies workers wages that are legally or contractually due to them. Typical examples include failure to pay overtime, making illegal deductions in pay, requiring employees to work off-the-clock, and not paying minimum wage.
As a means of minimizing wage theft, numerous states and localities have adopted laws requiring employers to provide written notice to new hires, and in some cases current employees, outlining such things as the employee’s rate of pay, the time/date when a paycheck will be received, and the amounts of paycheck deductions. In some jurisdictions, an employer can include this information in an offer letter, but in others, employers are obligated to provide more formal notices – some even requiring employers to retain signed acknowledgments of the notice.
More recently, some jurisdictions – including the states of Minnesota, Colorado, and New Jersey – have further tightened their laws designed to prevent wage theft. In particular, the Minnesota law, as well as a separate ordinance enacted by the city of Minneapolis, create significant additional burdens for covered employers with respect to wage-related information that must be provided to new hires.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.