NEWS: Lilly Ledbetter, the working American who discovered she wasn’t being paid as much as her male coworkers, then did something about it, died at age 86 on Oct. 12. Ledbetter’s advocacy led to the Fair Pay Act.
WHAT IT MEANS TO YOU: Ledbetter’s decades-long fight to be reimbursed for the pay she earned but didn’t get, gives American workers one more tool in order to be treated fairly when it comes to what they are paid.
It was 1998 and Lilly Ledbetter was nearly 20 years into her job as a supervisor at a Goodyear tire plant in Alabama when she learned by anonymous note from someone at the plant that she was being paid well below what her male coworkers were, even those with less experience.
Ledbetter filed a complaint, including seeking back wages, that made it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where it was denied in 2007. The court ruled 5-4 that she could only get back wages for the 180 days before she filed the complaint. Of course, for the 19 years before that, she had no idea that she was not being paid fairly.
Ledbetter, beginning in 1998, took up the cause of fair pay. In 2009, Congress passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which increased the 180-day window for filing a complaint to two years for employees who have discriminated because of gender, race, color, national origin or religion.
That increase to two years may not seem a lot, but it’s meant to send notice to employers that yes, they will have to pay if they don’t follow the law. Of course, workers need to know they’re being ripped off before they can file a complaint.
When Lilly Ledbetter died earlier this month at the age of 83, she was lauded as an advocate and game-changer for fair pay.
She did make a difference, but that doesn’t mean there still isn’t an issue.
In a perfect world, all employers would follow the rules. But it’s not a perfect world. If you are a member of a union, you’re more likely to be paid fairly because of wage transparency (everyone knows what everyone’s making), rules that both management and workers must follow as far as hours work and how workers are compensated, and a grievance process that’s clear and addresses contract violations. That’s, of course, if the union is a strong one and keeps management in line. That doesn’t always happen. If you’re not a member of a union, you’re a much more vulnerable target for companies that look to save money by nickel and diming workers.
Today we’ll look at five major issues that make it easy for employers to take advantage of workers, and how you can make sure you are earning the money you’re entitled to.
1. Wage transparency
Employers often don’t want workers to discuss their pay with each other. The reason is obvious – if everyone knows what everyone else is making, then it would be much harder for employers to discriminate on the basis of gender, race, sexual orientation, religion or just because they don’t like your haircut.
Women make 83 cents on the dollar less than men. This has backslid from 2022, when it went up to 84 cents, the highest it’s ever been. That’s even though it’s against the law for employers not to pay workers equal pay for equal work. The Equal Pay Act, first made law in 1963, says that “employers must provide employees within the same establishment whose jobs require substantially equal skill, effort and responsibility, and are performed under similar working conditions ‘equal pay,’ including an equal salary, overtime pay, bonuses, stock options, profit sharing and bonus plans, life insurance, vacation and holiday pay, cleaning or gasoline allowances, hotel accommodations, reimbursement for travel expenses and benefits. Unequal compensation cannot be justified unless the employer shows that the pay differential is based on a fair seniority, merit or incentive system, or a factor other than sex.”
That law was first passed in 1963. Yet employers still get away with wage discrimination. Lack of wage transparency helps enable it.
It may feel awkward, but start talking about wages at your workplace. Coworkers may resist, since we’re conditioned to believe it shouldn’t be discussed. Explain wage transparency to them, and how it can help everyone in the workplace.
It’s against federal law for an employer to forbid workers from discussing wages with coworkers, that includes enacting policies that make it hard or impossible to discuss wages and terminating workers who discuss wages.
Much of the burden to increase wage transparency and make sur everyone is paid fairly is up to your boss. That said, workers should feel comfortable talking about their wages with their coworkers. The stigma to it is created by employers to keep you from talking.
2. Know your rights
Every workplace has a bulletin board where some aspects of federal labor law are displayed. These postings are supposed to be in a spot where employees can easily see and read them. Some of things on the board should be the Fair Labor Standards Act, which describes minimum wage law; the Family and Medical Leave Act, which is required to be posted even if there are no employees eligible for it; the Occupational Safety and Health Act, which describes an employer’s obligations for a safe workplace; the Davis-Bacon Act, which describes contactors’ and subcontractors’ requirements when paying laborers and mechanic on federally funded jobs.
But that’s just the start. If you’re in a union, you have a contract that you should familiarize yourself with. If you’re not, look up and understand rules related to hourly pay, overtime, unpaid time, and that time of thing.
Many employers take advantage of the fact that workers who don’t know their rights, young workers unfamiliar with spending a lot of time in a workplace, immigrants and others who may be easy to bamboozle won’t know they’re being ripped off. Don’t let that be you.
Also learn where to take a complaint if you believe you’re not being paid fairly, and what the process is. If your employer has a human resources office, this is the first stop, though may not solve the problem.
If you get pushback, or no action, contact the New Hampshire Department of Labor, which has a page for workers with links to information on workplace issues. It even has online forms to fill out if you believe you’re a victim of wage theft or other employment discrimination.
3. Wage theft
Wage theft can happen in big ways and small to hourly workers. It’s tougher to identify and fight if you earn a salary.
Here are some common examples of wage theft:
Off-the-clock work. If you’re paid by the hour, being asked to work on your own time without pay is wage theft. This includes, for instance, if you clock out, then the boss asks you to do one more thing. This includes work while you’re on an unpaid break. It also includes things like running an errand for the boss off-hours or being asked to take care of something work-related while you’re at home and on your own time. In New Hampshire, if you work five or more hours straight, your employer must provide a 30-minute meal break. If you can eat and work at the same time, the break can be done away with, but you must be paid for that half hour.
Short shifts. New Hampshire law requires that hourly workers must be paid a minimum of two hours. This applies even if you’re called in to work and then immediately sent home because you’re not needed. This doesn’t apply if you voluntarily show up, of course. It’s only valid if your employer has asked you to be at work, then your employer sends you home.
Unpaid overtime. If you are paid an hourly wage, unless you are exempt (for instance, a manager), you get time and a half for any work you do that’s in excess of 40 hours a week. If you are a salaried employee, you still may be eligible for overtime if you work more than 40 hours a week. If you make more than $844 a week, which is $43.888 annually, you’re eligible for overtime if you work more than 40 hours in most cases. This is federal law, not New Hampshire being magnanimous, by the way. On Jan. 1, that increases to $1,128 a week, which is $58,656 a year. If you’re looking for a job and negotiating a salary, keep an eye out for employers who will pay just under that minimum. They may expect you to work more than 40 hours without getting overtime pay.
Paycheck deductions. Federal taxes (and state taxes if you work in a state that has an income tax) and FICA, which is the federal payroll tax, are deducted from your pay. Anything else, like retirement accounts, health savings accounts, employer-supported charities and other things, can only be deducted with your written consent. When you’re hired, you fill out a W-4 form, and this determines how much federal tax will come out of your check. If you think too much is coming out, visit the IRS withholding estimation page to see what the deduction should be. You have the right to change it. If the numbers don’t make sense and you think your employer is deliberately taking out more than they should, contact the New Hampshire Department of Labor.
4. Tipped work
If you make the “tipped minimum wage” in New Hampshire, you get a base pay of $3.26 an hour, which is 45% of the state’s $7.25 minimum wage. If your tips don’t make up the difference between that and the standard minimum wage, then your employer must. That means that your paycheck should reflect $7.25 an hour pay – the base wage, plus tips, plus the balance from the employer if tips aren’t 55% of minimum wage ($3.99 an hour). Your employer cannot take tip money from you or reduce the base pay if your tips and base pay add up to more than $7.25 an hour.
If your coworkers pool tips, you can voluntarily participate, but can’t be required to. Whatever you get from the pool is what’s added to the base tipped wage and you still must make a total of $7.25 an hour.
A law passed in New Hampshire in 2023 separates “service charges” from tips, which means that your employer determines how service charge money is distributed and it isn’t automatically counted as a tip.
5. Your obligations and your employer’s
Even without wage transparency, your employer is required to be upfront about many aspects of your pay.
When you’re hired, your employer must provide, in writing, your pay rate at the time of hire as well as any time it changes, and all policies regarding benefits (time off, vacation, insurance, etc.) You must be asked to read and sign this document.
Your employer is also required to provide you with a written statement with your paycheck of all deductions (taxes, insurance premiums, charitable contributions, health savings accounts, retirement savings, etc.)
If you are a salaried, not hourly, employee, make sure it’s clear what’s expected of you when you start the job. Keep track of your hours. They matter even though you don’t get paid hourly.
Your obligation is to pay attention, understand how you are being paid, do the work required of you, and also understand what your rights are.
Whatever you do, don’t take money under the table or make a side deal with your boss or a supervisor or employer. If you take money under the table, it may feel nice to not have that tax deduction, but you’re ripping yourself off. When you collect Social Security, it’s determined by what your reported wages were over your lifetime. It may seem a long time off, but it’ll be here before you know it.
If you make side deals with a boss that skirts work pay or rules, keep in mind if the person you make the deal with leaves, or changes their mind, you have nothing to back up the fact you had a deal. You can lose money, or even lose your job.
Scam of the Month
There’s good news at scam central this month. You may remember that the August It’s Your Money column focused on rental cars and, specifically, a relative’s $7,250 credit card bill for a four-day rental, with the car parked for most of that time.
She accidentally returned the car to the wrong agency (literally in the same parking lot as the correct one), and the agent who accepted her car return rushing her off with no receipt of what he’d supposedly scanned in. [This is different from the scam where someone who doesn’t work for a car rental agency just pretends to scan the car in]. I won’t go into all the ins and outs – it’s complicated. She did accept some responsibility, but felt the $7,250 was a ridiculous amount to pay for her mistake when the car rental agency should’ve easily caught it the day it was made.
At the time, she was told she would not get her money back. Her credit card company had rejected her claim, and the car rental agency wasn’t sympathetic or interested. She was in the process of pursuing it with a consumer advocate, who also didn’t have high hopes that she’d get her money back. The advocate was Consumer Rescue, which offers free advocacy for people who’ve been scammed and ripped off, as well as information and resources on how not to be.
Imagine my relative’s surprise when, shortly after the August It’s Your Money column was published, the charge was reversed and she was only required to pay what she would’ve upon returning the car.
She even got an apology from Budget, but no explanation about why they changed their mind. The consumer advocate didn’t believe she was far enough along in their investigation to have made a difference, but something did. In the end, it just goes to show that if you’re ripped off by a car rental agency, or any other business, be tenacious even if you’re told that it won’t do any good.
Maureen Milliken can be reached at mmilliken@manchesterinklink.com
