{"slug":"trump-pre-presidency-stiffed-workers-wages","title":"Wage Theft at Trump Properties: Documented Underpayment and Nonpayment of Workers","date":"1995-01-01","lastUpdated":"2016-11-05","description":"Trump and his hotel and casino operations were documented in multiple cases to have underpaid workers, failed to pay overtime, violated wage and hour laws, and disputed wage claims from employees in the same pattern used against contractors — disputing the amount owed and relying on litigation economics to prevent recovery. The pattern extended from Atlantic City casino workers in the 1990s to Trump Tower employees and workers at Trump golf courses. Investigations by USA Today, the Department of Labor, and investigative journalists found systematic patterns of wage violations.","summary":"Workers at Trump properties documented wage theft in multiple documented cases: dishwashers and waiters at Trump's Atlantic City casinos said they were told management had decided not to pay them; golf course workers in New York, Florida, and New Jersey described being denied overtime and having wages disputed after work was completed; cleaning and maintenance workers at Trump properties reported underpayment of hourly wages. The pattern was consistent with the contractor nonpayment strategy — dispute the amount after work is done, offer less than owed, and rely on the economics of litigation to prevent recovery. The Department of Labor found violations at Trump properties in multiple investigations.","category":"civil-rights","severity":"major","ongoing":false,"sources":[{"url":"https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/06/09/donald-trump-unpaid-bills-contractors/85297274/","title":"Hundreds allege Donald Trump doesn't pay his bills","publisher":"USA Today"},{"url":"https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/11/05/trump-golf-course-cheated-dishwashers-waiters-etc/","title":"Workers at Trump golf courses say he cheated them out of wages","publisher":"The Washington Post"},{"url":"https://apnews.com/article/trump-workers-wages-underpaid-labor-violations","title":"Workers at Trump properties describe wage violations","publisher":"The Associated Press"},{"url":"https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/10/us/politics/donald-trump-contractors.html","title":"Donald Trump's Business Practices Leave Unpaid Bills","publisher":"The New York Times"}],"draft":false,"status":"published","tags":["wage-theft","workers","pre-presidency","civil-rights","labor-violations","Atlantic-City","golf-courses"],"relatedEntries":[],"timeline":[{"date":"1995-01-01","title":"Atlantic City casino workers document wage nonpayment","summary":"Dishwashers, waiters, and other workers at Trump's Atlantic City casinos begin documenting that management has declined to pay them for work performed. Workers who objected were told to hire a lawyer. Low-wage workers could not afford litigation to recover amounts that were individually too small to make hiring an attorney economical."},{"date":"2000-01-01","title":"Department of Labor finds violations at Trump properties","summary":"Department of Labor investigations document wage and hour violations at Trump properties including failure to pay overtime required by the Fair Labor Standards Act and improper wage practices. The violations are found at multiple properties."},{"date":"2016-11-05","title":"Washington Post investigation: golf course workers cheated of wages","summary":"The Washington Post publishes an investigation documenting that workers at Trump's National Golf Club in Westchester, New York and other Trump golf properties described being underpaid, having hours disputed, and being denied overtime pay. The accounts span multiple properties in multiple states."}],"location":{"name":"Atlantic City, NJ / New York, NY / Palm Beach, FL","lat":40.7128,"lng":-74.006},"custom":{"era":"pre-presidency","posture":"reported","warCrimeClassification":"enabling","internationalLaw":[],"iccRelevance":false,"victims":"Dishwashers, waiters, cleaning workers, maintenance staff, and other hourly employees at Trump properties who performed work and were not fully compensated; workers who could not afford the cost of litigation to recover wages they were owed","structuredPerpetrators":[{"name":"Donald Trump","role":"Owner and principal of Trump Organization hotels, casinos, and golf properties; presided over documented wage violations at multiple properties; properties repeatedly found in violation of wage and hour laws by Department of Labor investigators","institution":"Trump Organization"}],"updateLog":[{"date":"2016-11-05","summary":"Based on 2016 campaign-era reporting on Trump labor practices."}]}}