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  Wage Theft is a Crime Campaign:
  Frequently Asked Questions

  What is this campaign about?
  The Wage Theft is a Crime Campaign address the crisis of wage theft in Shelby County.
  Thousands of workers are victims of wage theft each year. This happens when employers
  hire workers, but later refuse to pay them for the work they've done. The goal of the Wage
  Theft is a Crime Campaign is for the Shelby County Sheriff and District Attorney to establish
  a policy that recognizes wage theft as a criminal offense. Workers could then file criminal
  charges against employers who deliberately defraud them of their wages.

  Wouldn't this require new laws to be passed by the county or the state?
  No. A number of cities and counties across the country are using their state's "Theft of Services" law
  to prosecute employers who deliberately commit wage theft. Tennessee has a theft
  of services law that could be used for this purpose by Shelby County, if the Sheriff and
  District Attorney's Departments agreed to do so.

  How would criminalizing wage theft affect businesses?
  Business that are following the law and paying their workers correctly will have nothing to worry about.
  In fact, recognizing wage theft as a crime can actually help these businesses. Right now,
  many responsible businesspeople are being undercut by unscrupulous employers who break the law.
  They can charge lower prices because they make money off the stolen wages they take from their workers.
  Recognizing wage theft as a crime will level the playing field for responsible businesses.

  Would an employer be arrested right away if they didn't pay their workers?
  No. Workers will have to demonstrate that the employer intentionally did not pay them, rather than by
  accident. This could be proven in a variety of ways, from the employer scheduling a pay day and
  failing to show up, to bouncing a check and failing to make payment in a reasonable amount of time
  after the employer has been informed that the check bounced. Workers Interfaith Network is
  also proposing that employers who violate the law be warned by the Sheriff's Department that an arrest
  warrant will be issued if they do not pay the worker(s) within a specified period of time.

  Can't the Department of Labor take care of this problem?
  There are many things the Department of Labor can and should do, but they can't solve
  the problem by themselves. Currently, the legal options that workers can exercise in response
  to wage theft are to either file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division,
  or to file a civil court charge against an employer. Clearly, low-wage workers who have experienced
  the theft of their wages are not in a position to pay court fees and hire a lawyer.

  The US Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division is only permitted to investigate nonpayment of
  wages in cases that involve interstate commerce, or where annual sales are over $500,000.
  This does not apply to many of the businesses that are committing wage theft in Memphis, especially
  small construction and landscaping operations. Local law enforcement is ideally suited for these types of
  wage theft cases. Workers Interfaith Network also believes that the stigma of a potential arrest
  will deter many employers from committing wage theft in the first place.

  Become involved in the Wage Theft is a Crime campaign