Not sure why you’re so hung up on the “theft” part of this. Look, you worked some amount of time for which federal law says you must be paid but you weren’t. E

Not sure why you’re so hung up on the “theft” part of this. Look, you worked some amount of time for which federal law says you must be paid but you weren’t. Even if you agreed to those terms, implicitly or explicitly in a verbal or written contract, it’s absolutely still illegal. So someone is in possession of wages to which you are (and, very explicitly, they are not) legally entitled. You can come up with whatever term you like for this situation but personally I think “theft” is remarkably straightforward and appropriate.