Wage and Benefit Theft

Wage theft in the garment industry is endemic, leaving workers vulnerable to further economic exploitation and keeping them in a constant state of precarity. Wage theft takes many forms, including: 

• Non-payment of Minimum Wage: Employers often pay workers less than the legal minimum. Even where minimum wage laws are strong on paper, weak enforcement allows many workers to be shortchanged. 
• Unpaid Overtime: Workers frequently put in hours beyond the standard workweek without receiving legally required overtime pay. Further, garment workers are often required to work extra hours to meet unrealistic production targets, yet receive no additional pay for their labor. 
• Denial of Severance Pay: When factories close or workers are dismissed, they are often denied months or even years of severance pay they are legally owed, leaving them without the money that they have cumulatively earned sometimes over decades, severely impacting their children, families and communities. 
• Non-payment of Benefits: Factories often fail to make legally mandated contributions for workers for benefits like pensions, leaving workers without recourse to recover what they are owed.  
• Failure to Provide Legally Mandated Breaks: Workers are routinely denied rest and meal breaks, forcing them to work extended hours without proper compensation. 

Even though many garment-exporting countries have legal labor protections that are formally robust, enforcement is frequently weak or nonexistent. National minimum wages are set far below what is needed for a decent standard of living, leaving workers in desperation when wages and benefits are unpaid. Insecure employment, lack of union rights, and ineffective grievance mechanisms further exacerbate the problem, allowing wage theft to remain pervasive.