Posted on February 19, 2018
By Melissa Wells
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Wage theft occurs when a worker performs a job for an agreed-upon wage, and after completing the job, does not receive the full wage they are entitled to. The Center for Popular Democracy estimates that 580,000 Maryland workers suffer from wage theft each year, for a total of $875 million in gross wages lost annually. These numbers may underestimate the scope of wage theft in Maryland, as our Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation has found that “employees often do not file a claim for a wage payment and collection law violation because they fear retaliation,” leaving us with an incomplete picture of wage theft’s prevalence. Low-wage workers are the most vulnerable to wage theft, particularly in industries like construction, food service and landscaping.
Workers are right to fear retaliation from their employers because Maryland law does not protect them from “discharge, demotion, discipline, or any other action that would reasonably deter an employee from engaging in protected activity under the state’s wage payment and protection law.” This means that though Maryland workers have a right to bring wage theft claims, they do not have a right against repercussions from their employer for bringing the claims.