Turning Up The Heat On Wage Theft
Alongside the U.S. Department of Labor, the Attorney General announced charges against Abdul Jamil Khokhar, the owner of nine Papa John’s Pizza franchises in the Bronx, and his company, BMY Foods, Inc. The defendants underpaid approximately 300 current and former employees by failing to pay minimum wage and overtime. To hide these practices, workers were paid partly in cash and a system of fake names for employees was devised in order to avoid reporting overtime hours. Khokar will serve 60 days in jail as part of his plea, and pay $230K in back wages to workers who were cheated. He will pay another $230K in damages, and $50K in penalties through a separate consent judgment with the U.S. Department of Labor. In this latest crackdown on wage theft, the Attorney General continues to show his office’s commitment to ensuring that workers across the state are treated with respect and dignity. Full story here
My personal observation is that probably 80% of the residential construction work that happens in Western New York and Buffalo is “cash, under the table”. I get it. I’ve been there. Doing a legitimate home improvement business successfully is close to impossible. Cash appears to be the only way to make it work. But there is another way to be successful. If everybody played by the same rules––if everybody paid payroll taxes––then the market would begin to work. Don’t get me wrong. I hate taxes. In my opinion it’s a way for the government to legally take what is not theirs to take. So let’s fix the system. Don’t dodge it. Play by the rules. And if we don’t like the rules…revolt.