Erin Murphy | The Gazette
Nov. 25, 2022
Iowa Workforce Development says it works hard to ensure employees are paid fairly
DES MOINES — Iowa workers are not paid an estimated $900 million owed to them annually, affecting one in seven workers in the state, and state oversight agencies are doing little to enforce violations, according to a report from a liberal-leaning issue advocacy group.
The report is from Common Good Iowa, which describes itself as a nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization. The group is staffed by policy advocates and researchers, and advocates for “people-centered policy solutions for our state’s most pressing issues.”
According to the report, 250,000 Iowa workers are not paid $900 million owed to them annually:
- $501 million in overtime violations
- $241 million in minimum wage violations
- $163 million in other violations, including the forced sharing of tips, forcing people to work off the clock, making illegal deductions from paychecks or mis-classifying employees as contractors.
The report was written for Common Good Iowa by Sean Finn, whose focus for the group is on labor standards and practices.
Finn analyzed data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics and Iowa Workforce Development, and U.S. Department of Labor enforcement records.
“This insidious and growing problem costs Iowans 10 times more than all other forms of theft combined,” Finn said in a news release.
According to the report, in addition to those unpaid wages, state and federal government agencies are doing little to punish businesses for any violations. For every $1,000 in wage theft, only $2 is recovered by government agencies — less than 1 percent — the report says.