What is considered “wage theft”?

Wage theft refers to the unlawful practice of not paying workers the full amount that they are entitled to under employment agreements or labor laws. This could manifest in various forms, such as not paying overtime wages, misclassifying employees to avoid paying benefits, or failing to compensate employees for all hours worked.

The correct answer encompasses these elements by identifying the failure to pay workers the full wages owed. This scenario directly violates labor laws designed to protect workers’ rights and ensure fair compensation for their efforts. When employees do not receive the wages that they are legally entitled to, it undermines their financial stability and violates their rights as workers.

Other choices present practices that do not constitute wage theft but are instead typical aspects of compensation structures in various organizations. Paying bonuses and offering profit-sharing options are incentives that, while they may form part of an overall compensation package, do not indicate any illegal withholding of wages. Similarly, delayed salary payments due to audits, while potentially problematic or inconvenient for employees, do not necessarily equate to wage theft unless the employee is not paid their owed amount after the delay.