The Old Blog in the Desert

The Fine Craft of Wage Theft

If there’s one thing the great state of Nevada knows how to do, it’s separate a man from his money. From the clinking roulette wheels of Reno to the dusty poker tables in small-town saloons, fortune has always been a fickle friend in these parts. But now, thanks to a new report from Rutgers University’s Workplace Justice Lab, we learn that the house edge isn’t in the casinos—it’s in the payroll departments of employers shortchanging their employees $122.8 million a year.

Yes, you read that right.

In a state where slot machines hum a never-ending lullaby of luck and loss, the real jackpot is quietly skimmed off the wages of nearly 40,000 Nevadans, cheated out of an average of $3,132 annually. Over the last two decades, that adds up to a staggering $2.4 billion—enough to build a golden palace of ill-gotten gains for the fine folks who believe a fair day’s pay is whatever they feel like giving.

You might think, “Surely this sort of thing is rare, an occasional miscalculation, a rounding error in the grand scheme of commerce.”

Alas, dear reader, it is not. The average employee in Nevada has a 3.4 percent chance of being underpaid.

Take, for instance, personal service employees—those who cut your hair, polish your nails, and press your shirts so you don’t look like you just emerged from a prolonged nap under a bridge. These folks are three times as likely to be underpaid.

Farmhands and food service employees, who quite literally put food on our tables, also get shorted at double and triple the rate of the average Nevadan. And then we have domestic workers—housekeepers, nannies, caregivers—the quiet workforce that keeps homes running smoothly.

They stand a fivefold chance of being paid less than the legally mandated minimum wage–as if working in someone’s private home entitles their employer to private rules regarding compensation.

If you’re wondering how such a brazen practice flourishes, look no further than the history books. When enacting Social Security, certain members of Congress dug in their heels, refusing to extend protections to domestic and farm workers. That fine tradition of selective fairness lives on today, with wage theft disproportionately affecting women of color, non-citizens, and those who dare to enter the workforce without a high school diploma.

You may ask, “What’s being done about it?”

Well, the Office of the Labor Commissioner (OLC) is on the case—with each investigator carrying an average of 113 cases a month, their pursuit of justice is about as swift as a three-legged mule pulling a stagecoach uphill. With enforcement resources spread thin and employers well aware that detection is unlikely, the incentive to pay employees fairly dwindles proportionally to ease, with which they can get away.

And so, the cycle continues. Businesses that fail to register with the state slip through the cracks, employees fear retaliation and remain silent, and those who come forward get met with a system more eager to close cases quickly than to dig deep into systemic abuses. Meanwhile, the $12 minimum wage remains a distant dream for thousands, even as research finds that a Nevadan needs $23.85 an hour to keep their head above financial water.

But fear not, for there is a glimmer of hope!

Nevada’s Secretary of State, Cisco Aguilar, has only just discovered the extent of this swindle—an astonishing feat of obliviousness, given that it’s been happening under his nose since taking office. Now, he vows to work alongside the Attorney General to address the problem. Whether this results in meaningful action or a flurry of strongly worded memos remains to be seen.

In other states, officials are teaming up with tax collectors, reasoning—quite sensibly—that a business willing to cheat its workers is probably just as willing to cheat the government. It turns out that a well-aimed tax audit works wonders.

So what’s the lesson here? In Nevada, wage theft is not a bug in the system—it is the system.

The house always wins, and in this particular game, the dealer is the employer who’s mastered the fine art of picking employees’ pockets with a sleight of hand that puts the best Vegas magician to shame.