Roundabout wage theft: The limits of regulatory protections for Ontario workers in precarious jobs

Abstract

This article focuses on wage theft experienced by workers in precarious jobs in Ontario, Canada. Workers report that employers utilize subtle forms of wage theft, which one respondent in this study described as “roundabout” wage theft. We argue that the enforcement of the Employment Standards Act requires not only action on overt wage theft but also a proactive approach which challenges employers' subtle practices which result in wage theft. We highlight two sets of practices resulting in wage theft, although these may not always in themselves represent violations of the law. First, employers use discourses of futurity where promises of future work or payment are evoked to deter employee action on unpaid wages. Second, employers set up confusing payment structures which mask unpaid wages as difficult‐to‐detect errors.

Wage Theft and Work Safety: Immigrant Day Labor Jobs and the Potential for Worker Rights Training at Worker Centers

“…When anti-immigration laws are strengthened, wage theft increases (Salas-Chacon, 2018). Even in places where there are legal protections for low-wage workers, employers deter workers from using these protections by promising future payment and using confusing payment processes to obfuscate ongoing wage theft (Mirchandani and Bromfield, 2019).…”

Wage Theft and Work Safety: Immigrant Day Labor Jobs and the Potential for Worker Rights Training at Worker Centers

“…[13] Even in places where there are legal protections for low-wage workers, employers deter workers from using these protections by promising future payment and using confusing payment processes to obfuscate ongoing wage theft. [14] Our study re ects the labor market position of workers similar to Syed's "Market Migrants" in Canada. [15] Market migration is a result of intentional low-wage labor recruitment from migrant and racialized groups that have historically been used to create a labor surplus for exploitation and capitalist accumulation.…”

Right‐wingpopulism, organized labor, and white workers in Sudbury, Ontario: A cautionary tale from the 2018 Ontario election

“…These cuts included canceling a scheduled minimum wage increase to $15 per hour, withdrawing the right to a minimum of two paid sick days for all employees, rolling back protections for temporary help agency workers, and reversing several other limited measures aimed at cushioning the impacts of precarious employment. Ford also directed his Ministry of Labour to seize its blitz of proactive workplace inspections, which had been increased under the Liberals as a measure to better deter what studies had uncovered as widespread employment standards violations (Vosko et al, 2020; see also Mirchandandi & Bromfield, 2019). Along with this, the PCs canceled a scheduled hiring of 100 new Employment Standards Officers, whose task it is to enforce the Employment Standards Act through workplace inspections and investigations of employment standards violation complaints filed by non-unionized workers with the Ministry of Labour (Mojtehedzadeh, 2018).…”