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Show notes
If you steal from your employer, you could end up in jail. But what happens when your employer steals from you? Every year, employers steal billions of dollars from American workers through unpaid wages, overtime violations, and other illegal practices. Yet the consequences for employers are often little more than the cost of doing business. On Election Day, we're revisiting our 2024 conversation with labor law enforcement expert Terri Gerstein about one of the most widespread and overlooked crimes in the American economy. Why is wage theft so common? Why are employers so rarely held criminally accountable? And what would it take to change that? Because building an economy that works for working people isn't just about passing better laws. It's about having a government willing to enforce them. This episode originally aired April 9, 2024 Terri Gerstein is the director of the NYU Wagner Labor Initiative and a leading expert on wage theft and workers’ rights enforcement. She previously served as Labor Bureau Chief in the New York Attorney General’s Office and Deputy Commissioner of the New York State Department of Labor. Social Media: @terrigerstein.bsky.social @TerriGerstein Further reading: The Regulatory Review - A Resilient Web of State and Local Enforcers More than $1.5 billion in stolen wages recovered for workers between 2021 and 2023 How district attorneys and state attorneys general are fighting workplace abuses How to File a Wage Complaint Website: http://pitchforkeconomics.com Facebook: Pitchfork Economics Podcast Bluesky: @pitchforkeconomics.bsky.social Instagram: @pitchforkeconomics Threads: pitchforkeconomics TikTok: @pitchfork_econ YouTube: @pitchforkeconomics LinkedIn: Pitchfork Economics Twitter: @PitchforkEcon, @NickHanauer Substack: The Pitch Nick’s Substack: NickHanauer.Substack.com