This is terrible, but it happens to better-paid workers as well. My brother was paid a relatively high hourly salary by a firm who then sent him to work at the

This is terrible, but it happens to better-paid workers as well. My brother was paid a relatively high hourly salary by a firm who then sent him to work at their client, but they didn't pay him overtime. He complained multiple times to no avail, until he filed a case with the state's labor board...it was a pain and probably difficult for most people to access, but then he finally did get paid everything. The company quickly paid up and asked him to dismiss the case -- so they clearly were "pros" at ripping off their people (they were billing for overtime, just not paying it to my brother who had researched the state laws). There need to be more penalties against larger enterprises especially to discourage abusive behavior...seems to be widespread from this report! The problem always comes in that the government ends up fumbling everything and will likely screw over small, struggling companies that aren't trying to cheat anyone but just can't make the entire payroll for a few weeks, etc. It is a difficult problem! A transparent database or even marketplace where everyone's wages were clear may be a solution.