Employers stealing from low wage workers: study

Thuis study shows that even in the 21st century employers cannot be trusted. Their only motivation is the squeeze even more out of workers and consumers to feed their greed. They are breaking the laws constantly. They think they are above the law. Employers cannot it seems make an honest buck. It is time more workers unionize, yes even minimum wage earners. The rich get richer at the expesnse of all the others. The working people must realize that they have all the power in the world. We can dictate the economy with our purchases and our strength in numbers. I say if one finds a business who is breaking the law and cheating it's employees then boycott that business. We do not need such places in modern society. Do not worry another business will take it's place and maybe that one will take more care of it's employees and customers.

To qualify the statement below, I am neither an employer nor an employee. (unemployed is the word).

We cannot go around with horse "winkers" on, or, if you dig dirt long enough, you will find "shit".

Not all, I for one, agree with the previous comment, i.e. diatribe. We have heard all that before. If you have erectile dysfunction, do not blame it on the medicine-man.

Of course the employer is looking out for her/his own concerns. They pay what they have to by law and anyone else would do no more. Well, maybe except for Brett Wilson of "DRAGONS DEN" fame.
Sounds like a bit of jealousy is at play here.

This race to the bottom will benefit no one. Not the people in China, not the banks trying to sell mortgages, not the same employers who compounded by many similar employers will see a shrinkage in customer base and Most certainly Revenue Canada.
Who is in charge of enforcing employment law? Oh right... the Government. If lazy civil servants fail to enforce the laws on the books there will be less tax money to pay their wages.
Perhaps it's time to privatize Government Departments, a taste of equality might help sharpen those lazy employee's focus :-)

those dam union will ruin everething no

The BC Liberals sure had no problem raising their salaries, ironically it was at the same time they were voting down the minimum wage hike.

Thanks to their incompetence BC is the highested taxed region in North America.

In BC a minimum wage of at 25.00 per hour is what's needed and that will still keep you homeless in most BC cities.

In case you have any cash the Liberals want to pick your pockets more with the HST some business owners can have lower taxes.

These are the same people that pay less than minimum wage and then try to gouge workers on that.

They take advantage of immigrant labor to subsidize their bottom end.

First things first we all have to stop believing that all politicians tell the truth all the time.
In a word the best way to view all staements from politicians is: skepticism.
The news media is not the most reliablesource of information either, think about who owns and controls all forms of media in this country
Now that we have started to think for ourselves, we can start to elect politicians that will actually have the best interests of all of us.
On Friday, October 2, Premier Gordon Campbell actually made a public statement that industrial and business property owners should get a vote in municipal elections. Can you imagine a multi-national company voting in your local elections? Gordon Campbell is exactly the type of politician we need to get rid of.
Then, and only then will employers start to play nice.

Agreed, we have to get rid of Campbell and his gang of putocrats, but what's the alternative? The New Dumbocratic party? There isn't a strong enough Tory presence in BC and Vanderscam destroyed the Socreds, so where do we go? Maybe we should abolish political parties. Maybe every politician should have to stand on his own merit with no party machine behind him. Every bit of legislation put forward should also have to stand likewise. There should also be an efficient process of recall and it should be easier to repeal a law than to pass one. Grass-roots recall just might tend to keep the putocrats out of the legislature. Grass-roots repeal just might reduce the inane quagmire of gibberish laws we all have hung around our necks.

(Putocrat: From the male form of the Spanish, Puta [Whore] ie. for sale to the highest bidder)

This is what happens when we elect a bunch of rich guys who don't give a crap about the rest of us. Somehow this is our own fault for not getting an education or being successful businessmen. Somebody has to be on the bottom -- but why so many of us? And it will only get worse as the machine merrily rolls along.

I don't believe anything Gordo and his stooges say. When they say that they want to attract "foreign investment" it just means they've sold off another crown corporation, or another piece of the province out from underneath us. They do this with the excuse that it's "enriching the lives of British Columbians" -- which means more McJobs. Just listen to how they explain funding cuts with their favourite line: "we're not cutting funding, we're just changing the way we deliver services".

HST? don't get me started. This is the BCLiars party, folks.

To show how arrogant this greedy little vulgarian is, think back to when he was caught drunk driving in the USA. Who does he think he is?

Unfortunately not much will change until the NDP rid themselves of Carole James.. she makes speeches like somebody from a Grade 7 drama class, or the debating club in junior high. Not enough of us will take the party seriously unless they get some real talent happening.

BTW, the ads keep asking if I believe in the Olympics.. what am I supposed to believe here?? That Vancouver and the rest of us will go broke while VANOC continues to worship some meaningless winter sports? It's insane. We've got mentally ill people who should be in a proper psychiatric facility wandering the streets homeless while children are dressed in overpriced Olympic advertising that will accomplish nothing but bleed more money from brain-washed consumers.

I live in northern British Columbia. Since last April, I have given my employer over 20 hours of unpaid work per month, and I will probably will have to give another 60 hours before this year is done. When I say unpaid work I do not mean spending twenty minutes after a shift doing paperwork, I mean spending hours after my shift is done. Not only do I not get overtime but I don't get paid period. I do not take coffee breaks and I am also expected to work during my lunch break.

I haven't received any increase in my pay in over a year, and I will not receive a pay raise this year either. Some of my other co-workers haven't been given a raise in over four years.

My store manger is not responsible for any of this. Senior management reduced the amount of employable hours amongst staff leading to layoffs. I now do about three times as much work as I used to. Even though our sales rebounded, management will not reinstate staff as they say they are saving to much money. Fortunately I do not work at our other stores that have a graveyard shift. Many times staff are expected to work alone and Grant's law is not enforced. One our stores was robbed during the graveyard shift as a female employee was working alone. Also Worksafe BC isn't informed when staff are exposed to violence. Many times staff are expected to put up with unacceptable behavior from customers as the bottom line comes first.

What's really insulting is one our senior managers complained that they only got to go golfing five times last year instead of six. As bad as they can be , they are model corporate citizens compared to many other local business owners. Only Wal-mart actually takes better care of it's employees.

I don't mean to whine but all this crap came about because of the BC Liberals. Also like most I also hate the NDP, and wish that politicians would work for the common good instead of bellying up to table like of bunch of greedy hogs.

We now live in a multi tiered justice and monetary society.One step more we WILL have comunism by the rich
Rember the golden rule "dem Who has da Gold makes da Rules "

Canada has an economic and social system which penalizes the poor.

It allows the rich to enslave the poor.

Canada has become just like a medieval sharecropper society.

.... Glorious and Free!

I love how they think raising minimum wage by 20 to 50 cents is going to make any difference.

I'm sorry to say but in order to survive financially in Canada you need to make $15 - $17 per hour to be self sufficient ... any less than that you are simply the working poor and struggling.

So until minimum wage matches that level its not going to make any difference, and is basically a joke.

My oldest son worked at a fast food place during high school and college. They made employees sign documents saying they acknowledged they wouldn't work "overtime". That was code for wouldn't be paid for overtime and then routinely asked my son to work extra hours. He had to challenge them for the overtime pay. They used all sorts of excuses including he should have known he would "go over" and refuse the shift (yeah right) and then they tried to tell him they could average his hours over a month and only if he was still in overtime territory would he get paid. Finally after threatening to take the matter to the Corporate office, they paid him, but they said "not because they were breaking the rules, but because he was a good employee, they would do him this "favour". They say you learn a lot working the fast food route in school, but the education isn't just about flipping square burgers!!!

As an employer, who owns a small franchised business, I would like to say it is not necessarily that we do not want to pay a more living wage, however lets look at historically what jobs pay minimum wage. Are you prepared to pay $5.00 for that bag of chips (at the convenience store), or $20.00 for that Big Mac combo so that the employer can buy the food or products to sell you, their rent and the multiple taxes due to the government? Also as your wage increases so does the amount tax amount that the government takes, so does the cost of goods and services that you per purchase, thereby increasing again the taxes collected for the government. So let's ask ourselves who really benefits? Contrary to popular belief here most small business employers are not living the high life, we are just trying to hold on during these hard economic times just like everyone else, hoping we don't lose everything, the same as all the others.

The real joke here is the fact that some workplaces will automatically raise wages by a quarter or such each year. So guess what if your quarter increase comes up and it corresponds when the next minimum wage increase occurs, more than likely you are back to getting minimum wage.

To Kat
I appreciate your comments. Yes many are struggling, employers and employees alike, If you only can pay minimum wage, fine. Your employees are fully aware of that up front when they come to work for you. However any employer should be expected to comply with Employment Standards Act, plain and simple. Re-interpreting legislation to suit business needs is not only illegal, it is totally unethical. It takes advantage of those who do not fully understand their rights under the law.

I've always found that the lowest paid workers in our society are the worst treated generally. Some of the stories I hear from folks that work in retail are ridiculous.

Labour laws favour employers for sure...I am sure employers feel different but try calling a labour board office about something that is blatently unfair and the response is consistantly "..there isn't anything in the labour law covering that"

There definatly are some small retailers who would go out of business if they had to pay 15-17$ per hour as mentioned but a place like Mcdonalds, BK etc is swimming in cash on the backs of "child labour". Surely they could forgo some of that phenominal profit by raising wages without increasing prices.

Many, not all, employers do live the high life having people working for them at low wages. Many suffer financially more than their employees. If they do extremely well simply because they can find basically anyone to do the work, is it taking advantage or repeaing the rewards of taking a risk in starting a business?...I don't know

The blame for this could lie in a number of areas..
1) Political: Because our lazy ass politicians won't be assertive with this issue.
2) At Home: Because people getting ripped off won't go to the labour boards.
3) Employers: They know they can get away with it.

My current employer opened up a franchise of a little known burger joint in a community outside of a big city in Alberta, he is I guess what you could classify as "extremely frugal". If you show up 10-15 minutes earily(which I do becuase i hate being late) 9/10 he will say "why don't you start earily?" and you will go sign in on the time clock, then when no one is around he will change your start time to the start time that he has written on the schedule. On stat holidays he never has anyone who has been employed under him for more than 3 months working even if that means he is short staffed for the day. He never has anyone work full time hours because he does not want to pay benefits. He keeps complaining that he has to work 10-12 hour days when he is too "frugal" to pay one of his employees so he doesn't have to. He jokes about firing his employees every 3 months so he doesn't have to pay stat holiday pay. He's told a couple of us that he is going to start hiring immigrant labour because he can pay them minimum wage.

Many people in Canada are so brainwashed against unions that they claim such organizations might have been needed in the early 20th century but are not needed now. They need to hear the stories written here to shake them out of their complacency. There are good employers out there who pay well (in part to avoid unions coming in). But far too many bosses take everything they can out of their workers to show their own bosses how well they have increased profits. I have literally worked 20 hours a day for a week or more in a row to meet an employer's production requirements, while being paid for 7.5 hours.