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We have an entire branch of the Federal government with 17,000 employees dedicated to fighting wage theft. You can argue they're not doing a good enough job, or that the victims aren't reporting the crime enough. But it's hardly unaddressed.

Also, your source seems to have cherry picked specific robbery statistics to try to push their narrative. According to the FBI, robberies cost $465 million in 2016, nearly double the wage theft your source specifies.

I'm with you that this is terrible, but it's also legal and not uncommon in the restaurant industry. In the US, a "tipped" position (like a waiter) has a minimum wage of $2.13/hour vs. the standard $7.25/hour. If the wage + tips falls below that $7.25/hour mark, the employer has to make up the difference, but it's still a shitty system that allows the employer to depend on tips to cover part of the employees' wages.

The amount of possible on-call time is limited by law

An opinion letter from the Wage and Hour Division of my country's Department of Labor states that on-call time is not compensable unless it is determined that the employee cannot "use on-call time effectively for personal purposes". It drew a line between a medical equipment repair tech who gets paged about five times a week and a firefighter who gets paged about five times a day, each of whom was required to remain sober and show up in 20 minutes. The opinion letter gives an illustrative laundry list of U.S. case law.

Though I am not sure if you even qualify for COBRA if you voluntarily leave a company.

Yes you are eligible.

From Health Plans & Benefits: Continuation of Health Coverage - COBRA (and other sources):

The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA) gives workers and their families who lose their health benefits the right to choose to continue group health benefits provided by their group health plan for limited periods of time under certain circumstances such as voluntary or involuntary job loss, reduction in the hours worked, transition between jobs, death, divorce, and other life events.

And you are eligible if you are covered under your employer's plan before the qualifying event even for just one day.

On the other hand... From other sources:

You are not eligible for COBRA, if you were terminated from your employment because of gross negligence (or "for cause"), or if your employer simply cancelled or changed its health insurance plan.

For legal reasons? Title IX demands equality between the sexes. And you are legally compelled to refer to people by the proper pronoun at work or you will be fired under the US labor laws. If you don't think it should matter and those laws shouldn't be on the books, WORK ON THAT.

The left say you should be able to identify as either sex since both sexes are equal under the law. e.g. it makes no difference how you Identify.

Whoa there. It legally matters how you identify because you can now get fired for using the wrong pronouns. If you thought that there was no legal ramifications, sorry to tell you that times are changing. Likewise with Title IX enforcement on college sports and government spending. And there's not supposed to be a preference for one sex over the other with domestic disputes, but you'd be blind not to acknowledge it.

And outside the realm of law, it makes a HUUUUUUGE difference how you identify. People keep track of gender statistics and get into quite a tussle about imbalances and such. There are even "women's studies" in college which really focus on such things. If there was no differences I'm not sure what they'd be studying there. But let's keep the conversation constrained to what's legal. That certainly keeps things simple, although it misses a lot of nuance.

Also, brilliant pivot on "gender as a physical trait". I almost missed it. You're subtly suggestion gender is a binary.

Don't be dense, he's suggesting gender is just another word for sex. As in "your gender defined by the physical traits of your biological sex". Which really ignores some of the nuance that can happen with genetic mutations.

I'm not sure how much it matters to people who work for tech companies

Are you pretending that labor laws don't exist or are you ignorant of people getting fired over pronouns as per legally mandated?

No, it shows the problem with increasing minimum wage by a large amount once every 10 years, which is basically what the US has been doing since 1980, instead of having small increases every 1-2 years. You can argue that $15/hour is too high, but based on the past 50 years or so, minimum wage should be around $10/hour now. In the 1960's and 1970's, minimum wage went up 10 cents almost every year (up to 20-25 cents per year by 1980). After 1980, it went up every 10 years instead (except for one shorter gap of 5 years in the 1990's), with a larger increase spread over 2-3 years.

The last increase was 2007-2009, with a total increase of about 40% from the previous minimum wage from 1997. So we're due for another 40% increase, which would bring it up to about $10/hour.

Minimum wage data

So much ignorance in this response I don't know where to start....

1.) Any child labor is forced child labor. If they don't have the mental capacity to handle alcohol, consent to sex, own firearms, vote, join the military, then they don't have the mental capacity to agree to a 12x6 workday either. https://www.dol.gov/agencies/i...
2.) Read up just a little bit on Foxconn, if you don't think that's force labor you're just sticking your head in the sand. Walled compounds, workers unable to come and go. High rates of suicide. The list goes on... https://www.theguardian.com/te...
3.) Taiwan is as much a part of China as Puerto Rico is a part of the U.S.: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Just stop trying to justify your continued purchase of Apple products to assuage your own guilty conscience. Or provide proof for any of your claims you've made so far. The one quote you provided has no reference, so I'll assume not just the emphasis is yours, but the words as well.

Nope. Nearly every state has exceptions in their minimum wage laws for tipped labor, so your claim that "the employer is obligated to make up the difference" is false.

It is true that some states have higher standards than the federal law (which requires that employers make up the difference up to $7.25), but none of them are lower.

Nothing else you wrote is relevant in any way.

It's federal law in the US.

There are some exceptions to minimum hourly wage for agricultural workers, for example:

Additional exemptions from the minimum wage and overtime provisions of the Act for agricultural employees apply to the following:
[...]
Local hand harvest laborers who commute daily from their permanent residence, are paid on a piece rate basis in traditionally piece-rated occupations, and were engaged in agriculture less than thirteen weeks during the preceding calendar year [...]

It seems likely that Discgolferusa fell into one of these exceptions (and, perhaps, he wouldn't have been hired at all to even give it a try without that exception).

The Department of Labor includes political affiliation under the list of discrimination.

California also protects political affiliation when it comes to employment.

For housing and rent? Sure. Maybe.

But discrimination for race, color, sex, and political affiliation when it comes to employment is illegal and managed by the Department of Labor.

So... that's a bit of a non-sequitur and doesn't matter.

I didn't see anyone else mention this, so here's my understanding.

There are three common categories of employees are are exempt from standard overtime rules: supervisors, administrative, and professional.

A college degree (usually expressed as degree or equivalent experience) is evidence that the position has professional requirements, and can qualify for a Fair Labor Standards Act
exemption from overtime rules.

At least some decades ago, when I had to deal with this, the issue of overtime was paramount in determining whether you were a "professional". The mere thought of having to pay overtime to an engineer was an anathema. If you were working on a US government contract, the accounting issues were horrendous. So jobs of that kind were limited to people who had degrees ("exempt" from the overtime requirement). There was a provision that someone who had 10 or so years as a high level technician could become a junior engineer, but this was an arduous and demeaning process.

The modern world provides many opportunities for self-education, and it is particularly relevant to rapidly evolving technological fields. However, it is likely that people without a degree, but with skills, need to start with a small enterprise that values performance rather than bureaucracy.

I didn't see anyone else mention this, so here's my understanding.

There are three common categories of employees are are exempt from standard overtime rules: supervisors, administrative, and professional.

A college degree (usually expressed as degree or equivalent experience) is evidence that the position has professional requirements, and can qualify for a Fair Labor Standards Act
exemption from overtime rules.

At least some decades ago, when I had to deal with this, the issue of overtime was paramount in determining whether you were a "professional". The mere thought of having to pay overtime to an engineer was an anathema. If you were working on a US government contract, the accounting issues were horrendous. So jobs of that kind were limited to people who had degrees ("exempt" from the overtime requirement). There was a provision that someone who had 10 or so years as a high level technician could become a junior engineer, but this was an arduous and demeaning process.

The modern world provides many opportunities for self-education, and it is particularly relevant to rapidly evolving technological fields. However, it is likely that people without a degree, but with skills, need to start with a small enterprise that values performance rather than bureaucracy.

I didn't see anyone else mention this, so here's my understanding.

There are three common categories of employees are are exempt from standard overtime rules: supervisors, administrative, and professional.

A college degree (usually expressed as degree or equivalent experience) is evidence that the position has professional requirements, and can qualify for a Fair Labor Standards Act exemption from overtime rules.

I didn't see anyone else mention this, so here's my understanding.

There are three common categories of employees are are exempt from standard overtime rules: supervisors, administrative, and professional.

A college degree (usually expressed as degree or equivalent experience) is evidence that the position has professional requirements, and can qualify for a Fair Labor Standards Act exemption from overtime rules.

Except that the requirements you claim are completely imaginary. They're often claimed by US workers who dislike the system but don't actually know anything about the rules.

DOL Fact Sheet #62O

Unless the employer is H-1B-dependent, they can hire all the H1-B workers they can get and not make even the slightest effort to recruit an American worker.

Now, if you want an employee-sponsored green card, then the employer will have to do recruitment, but that's an entirely separate process from the H-1B and occurs years later.

Interns have to be paid if the internship is seen as a possible avenue to employment at the company, Dept. of Labor

Job Entitlement

The internship should be of a fixed duration, established prior to the outset of the internship. Further, unpaid internships generally should not be used by the employer as a trial period for individuals seeking employment at the conclusion of the internship period. If an intern is placed with the employer for a trial period with the expectation that he or she will then be hired on a permanent basis, that individual generally would be considered an employee under the FLSA.

Department of Labor Rules to determine if an intern needs to be paid.

Could you explain this in more detail? The US Department of Labor states, "Severance pay is often granted to employees upon termination of employment. It is usually based on length of employment for which an employee is eligible upon termination. There is no requirement in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for severance pay. Severance pay is a matter of agreement between an employer and an employee (or the employee's representative)."

This seems to contradict your assertion that employment law dictates severance pay on an increasing scale.

I imagine the pay isn't as good as in the private sector

You imagine wrong. For an 18 year old high school graduate, the pay is pretty good. When you add in basic necessities that are provided for free (food, housing, ammunition), it is a pretty good deal

... and volunteering is more noble than otherwise.

My reasons for joining had nothing to do with being "noble" or "serving my country" or any of that crap. It was a testosterone driven desire for adventure. I wanted to jump out of airplanes, ride in helicopters, and go see the world (Yes, I did all of those things as a Marine).

Perhaps some effort should be spent ensuring active duty personnel and veterans are offered opportunities ...

Veterans benefits, like any other entitlement, will always be twisted toward those that can organize, manipulate the system, and contribute to politicians, ... in other words successful people that don't really need the benefits.

Giving you some opportunity to catch up with the rest of us seems reasonable.

Except that we don't need to "catch up". According to the DOL, veterans are doing better than average in median income.

Minimum wage for "tipped employees" in California is $2.71 per hour

Without considering whether tipping is good or bad this is demonstrably false. From the department of labor, California requires tipped workers to be paid the state minimum wage of $10.00/hour.

FWIW they recently (and surprisingly quietly) raised the minimum annual salary for overtime exemption from a paltry $23,660 to $47,476 as of December 1st. Still laughably low, but a step in the right direction. Complete text. Also notable is the number is now pegged to a calculation with an automatic update every 3 years.

So people making less than that now have a cattle prod to get a raise.

How quaint that you actually trust government employees. Even those you elect. It's especially quaint given the historically ongoing reality that they've not shown themselves worthy of said trust.

Don't mistake my apparent trust of government employees for naivete. Your condescending tone (and apparent paranoia) not withstanding, there is very little evidence of actual actionable corruption in most government agencies. WE put these people in place. If you don't like them, too bad. Organize an effort to remove them. The fact that you don't trust them has little bearing on whether we need to be looking over their shoulder every second of the day.

No, it is exactly the point.

Let me get this straight: A government agency put forth allegations that Google doesn't pay their female employees as well as their male employees, and you're concerned that they're not looking into the gender pay gap? If they're not looking into it, why do you suppose they brought it up in the first place?

How, pray tell, are we citizens supposed to oversee our representatives if we're not allowed to view the data (throwing a sans in the direction of national security issues) they're making their decisions on?

In this particular instance, that falls on the OIG of the Department of Labor, and carries no requirement that the general public be part of any potential investigation.

Are there big pushes elsewhere to get more men into female-dominated professions?

I've never seen those. Also, there are no big pushes to get more women in male-dominated dangerous and/or low wage jobs either.

I wonder why there isn't a push to get more women into plumbing and electrical? Women make up only 1.5% of those occupations, but those occupations can make really good money.

I was very young when Star Wars, but I vividly remember that it cost $2.25. Plugging the values into the Inflation Calculator, I get a value of $9.04 today. I saw Hidden Figures last month and paid $9.00 for a ticket.

Minimum wage in 1977 was $2.31, or $9.29 inflation adjusted. Minimum wage as of January 1, 2017 - $10.00 Maybe movies just suck

The article starts with a claim "women have higher levels of education than men," which might be true, but it has nothing to do with underrepresentation of women in Information Security. The relevant information would be the percent graduates in computer science. When I googled for that, I found that only 18% of CS graduates were women. (Source: http://www.aauw.org/research/s...). So though there are more women with degrees, most of those degrees have nothing to do with CS.

Then there was a claim that "women make up only 11 percent of the cyber security workforce". I don't know where this number came from. Based on statistics provided by US Department of Labor, there are 18.1 percent of women in Information security analysts. Source: https://www.dol.gov/wb/stats/C...

From the comments in slashdot over the years and indeed in the comments in this post as well, it indicates that many people are affected by the H1-B program abuse.

But instead of just voicing their concerns on a website, why don't people report it to the authorities if they witness H1-B fraud.

They have a website giving instructions on what to do and a form that needs to be filled and submitted.

Link: https://www.dol.gov/whd/forms/...
Form: https://www.dol.gov/whd/forms/...

Why are people not doing this?

And why does the H1-B hate invariably translate to hate towards Indians?

From the comments in slashdot over the years and indeed in the comments in this post as well, it indicates that many people are affected by the H1-B program abuse.

But instead of just voicing their concerns on a website, why don't people report it to the authorities if they witness H1-B fraud.

They have a website giving instructions on what to do and a form that needs to be filled and submitted.

Link: https://www.dol.gov/whd/forms/...
Form: https://www.dol.gov/whd/forms/...

Why are people not doing this?

And why does the H1-B hate invariably translate to hate towards Indians?

Hell we even have a non-public HR policy titled "India First" which states this as corporate policy.

I hate it. I think it's wrong.

So leak it to the media or file form WH-4 with the Department of Labor.

Hell we even have a non-public HR policy titled "India First" which states this as corporate policy.

I hate it. I think it's wrong.

So leak it to the media or file form WH-4 with the Department of Labor.

Many people probably assume it starts after 40hs a week like in the US.

For white collar workers with a salary of more than $47,476, that's not necessarily true. I've had positions where it was explicitly explained to me that the 40 hour week was a minimum and less than expected.

Tell your HR representative that if you didn't do what you did, you would be in violation of the American's with Disabilities Act. Her severe PMS is a disability, and you provided an accommodation required by law. It just happens that this type of disability only affects females.

Basically your HR department sucks at doing their job. However, in my professional experience, that's the case at most companies.

Lets say Trump makes this and another equivalent deal creating 100,000 jobs. Claims for first-time unemployment benefits are around 250,000* monthly. How much time a month should our president dedicating to deal-making with private industry and at what cost to tax payers?

* https://www.dol.gov/ui/data.pd...

According to the Federal laws, the deduction for the cost of a uniform (or any other item primarily to the benefit to the employer, which would include aprons) can't legally bring the employee below minimum wage.

So either Allsup's was violating the law or it changed recently.

Here's something at the department of labor that directly contradicts what you just said.

https://blog.dol.gov/2013/06/0...

now i know that the fact that this is on the actualy DoL website is a problem for you, you didn't have it foxsplained to you on oreally or something. i'll wait for you to tell me how they're lying, i'm not actually reading it correctly , blah blah blah.

yeah- so the thing that gets me about you right wing nut jobs is how you so very consistently flat out lie.

and you do it because it works really well.

especially on this site.

and always with the leftist religion thing. is that some new libertarian right wing meme that i missed ?

Claims for first-time unemployment benefits are around 250,000* monthly. How many calls a month should our president be making to private companies? I'm not familiar with the terms of whatever deal Trump made with Carrier and if it costs taxpayers money.

On the topic of making stuff up, someone has to be wrong and I don't know how the left and right can be living in such alternate realities. What about the current unemployment rate*? At 4.6% it's only 0.2% higher than the lowest it's been in 10 years; 3.8 was the lowest that's gone in 20 years. Is this number wrong or made up? Do you have more examples of what you feel is made up?

* https://www.dol.gov/ui/data.pd...
** https://data.bls.gov/timeserie...

I know that /. can be a a bit of a fact free zone these days but:
In the Disney the H1B workers were employed by a contracting firm
H1B Rules
H1B Guidelines

I know that /. can be a a bit of a fact free zone these days but:
In the Disney the H1B workers were employed by a contracting firm
H1B Rules
H1B Guidelines

In the 1950s the minimum wage was relatively more generous, more like $10 per hour now

Slightly more generous. In 1956, the minimum wage was $1/hr. https://www.dol.gov/whd/minwage/chart.htm

That translates to about $8.89 today, so the federal minimum wage of $7.25/hr. is 81% of the 1956 equivalent. In most states, the minimum wage is higher than the federal wage.

https://www.dol.gov/whd/immigr...

This should be very easy to prove because US workers are being REPLACED by H1 workers. US workers are training H1 to take thier jobs so they are clearly being used as cheap replacement workers not what H1 was designed to do.

That's the really messed up thing here, because that's what H1Bs are supposed to be for. If someone has been told outright that H1Bs are replacing them, they need to immediately file a WH-4 with the Department of Labor:

WH4-DOL

Bitching about it on social media is fine, but an investigation from the DOL is what will really make people sit up and listen.

25 and 7. I guess that they claim that the applicants numbers count, because "[...] Asian applicants were routinely eliminated during the resume screen and telephone interview phases despite being as qualified as white applicants [...]". https://www.dol.gov/sites/defa...

FMLA is your friend.

It is legal if you pay over $47,476 per year, and I assume you make more than that in a tech-related job.

No, that is not correct. There is not a magic dollar amount where you suddenly become overtime exempt. There are Federal laws regulating overtime.

The FLSA requires that most employees in the United States be paid at least the federal minimum wage for all hours worked and overtime pay at time and one-half the regular rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 hours in a workweek.

However, Section 13(a)(1) of the FLSA provides an exemption from both minimum wage and overtime pay for employees employed as bona fide executive, administrative, professional and outside sales employees. Section 13(a)(1) and Section 13(a)(17) also exempt certain computer employees. To qualify for exemption, employees generally must meet certain tests regarding their job duties and be paid on a salary basis at not less than $455 per week. Job titles do not determine exempt status. In order for an exemption to apply, an employee’s specific job duties and salary must meet all the requirements of the Department’s regulations.

Fact Sheet #17A: Exemption for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Computer & Outside Sales Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)

Additional guidance is provided for computer-related occupations:

To qualify for the computer employee exemption, the following tests must be met:

• The employee must be compensated either on a salary or fee basis at a rate not less than $455 per week or, if compensated on an hourly basis, at a rate not less than $27.63 an hour;
• The employee must be employed as a computer systems analyst, computer programmer, software engineer or other similarly skilled worker in the computer field performing the duties described below;
• The employee’s primary duty must consist of:
  1. 1) The application of systems analysis techniques and procedures, including consulting with users, to determine hardware, software or system functional specifications;
  2. 2) The design, development, documentation, analysis, creation, testing or modification of computer systems or programs, including prototypes, based on and related to user or system design specifications;
  3. 3) The design, documentation, testing, creation or modification of computer programs related to machine operating systems; or
  4. 4) A combination of the aforementioned duties, the performance of which requires the same level of skills.

The computer employee exemption does not include employees engaged in the manufacture or repair of computer hardware and related equipment. Employees whose work is highly dependent upon, or facilitated by, the use of computers and computer software programs (e.g., engineers, drafters and others skilled in computer-aided design software), but who are not primarily engaged in computer systems analysis and programming or other similarly skilled computer-related occupations identified in the primary duties test described above, are also not exempt under the computer employee exemption.

Fact Sheet #17E: Exemption for Employees in Computer-Related Occupations Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) [emphasis mine]

If an employer claims you are overtime exempt you need to have them specify to which exempt class you belong.

I work at Microsoft for a vendor, and we get paid hourly if we work less than forty hours or flat forty salary if we work more than forty.

You need to speak to a labor attorney, that arrangement does not sound legal. An employer cannot reclassify workers as hourly or salaried on a week-to-week basis.

It is legal if you pay over $47,476 per year, and I assume you make more than that in a tech-related job.

No, that is not correct. There is not a magic dollar amount where you suddenly become overtime exempt. There are Federal laws regulating overtime.

The FLSA requires that most employees in the United States be paid at least the federal minimum wage for all hours worked and overtime pay at time and one-half the regular rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 hours in a workweek.

However, Section 13(a)(1) of the FLSA provides an exemption from both minimum wage and overtime pay for employees employed as bona fide executive, administrative, professional and outside sales employees. Section 13(a)(1) and Section 13(a)(17) also exempt certain computer employees. To qualify for exemption, employees generally must meet certain tests regarding their job duties and be paid on a salary basis at not less than $455 per week. Job titles do not determine exempt status. In order for an exemption to apply, an employee’s specific job duties and salary must meet all the requirements of the Department’s regulations.

Fact Sheet #17A: Exemption for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Computer & Outside Sales Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)

Additional guidance is provided for computer-related occupations:

To qualify for the computer employee exemption, the following tests must be met:

• The employee must be compensated either on a salary or fee basis at a rate not less than $455 per week or, if compensated on an hourly basis, at a rate not less than $27.63 an hour;
• The employee must be employed as a computer systems analyst, computer programmer, software engineer or other similarly skilled worker in the computer field performing the duties described below;
• The employee’s primary duty must consist of:
  1. 1) The application of systems analysis techniques and procedures, including consulting with users, to determine hardware, software or system functional specifications;
  2. 2) The design, development, documentation, analysis, creation, testing or modification of computer systems or programs, including prototypes, based on and related to user or system design specifications;
  3. 3) The design, documentation, testing, creation or modification of computer programs related to machine operating systems; or
  4. 4) A combination of the aforementioned duties, the performance of which requires the same level of skills.

The computer employee exemption does not include employees engaged in the manufacture or repair of computer hardware and related equipment. Employees whose work is highly dependent upon, or facilitated by, the use of computers and computer software programs (e.g., engineers, drafters and others skilled in computer-aided design software), but who are not primarily engaged in computer systems analysis and programming or other similarly skilled computer-related occupations identified in the primary duties test described above, are also not exempt under the computer employee exemption.

Fact Sheet #17E: Exemption for Employees in Computer-Related Occupations Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) [emphasis mine]

If an employer claims you are overtime exempt you need to have them specify to which exempt class you belong.

I work at Microsoft for a vendor, and we get paid hourly if we work less than forty hours or flat forty salary if we work more than forty.

You need to speak to a labor attorney, that arrangement does not sound legal. An employer cannot reclassify workers as hourly or salaried on a week-to-week basis.

Nope. while what you said is a good idea, it is not what the law says.
It is an absolute requirement of the law that H1B's are to be hired only to meet shortage of qualified American workers. It is not and has never been for hiring the "best and brightest". Whether or not the intent of the law is being ignored in practice is another matter.

From the United States Department of labor's website. https://www.dol.gov/whd/immigr...

The H-1B program applies to employers seeking to hire nonimmigrant aliens as workers in specialty occupations or as fashion models of distinguished merit and ability. A specialty occupation is one that requires the application of a body of highly specialized knowledge and the attainment of at least a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent. The intent of the H-1B provisions is to help employers who cannot otherwise obtain needed business skills and abilities from the U.S. workforce by authorizing the temporary employment of qualified individuals who are not otherwise authorized to work in the United States.

Your ridiculously sexist off-the-cuff statistics are *surprise*, completely wrong. Women actually make up 47% of the workforce. If only you had bothered to do 2 seconds of googling before you made yourself look like an idiot.

And if you adjust for hours worked per week? Women tend to work more part-time, men tend to take more overtime. How would this skew the normalized figures?