Another day, another group of restaurant staff go unpaid. Popeyes franchisee loses restaurants after employees raise alarm about unpaid wages.
The line between civil and criminal cases is sometimes drawn very unfairly. Individuals who bounce a single cheque can be charged with fraud, but if a restaurant owner with 13 locations fails to pay staff the police and justice system look the other way because it’s “civil”. It certainly doesn’t feel civil to the employees having trouble making rent. I’m not saying this is a crime, but it should be investigated. Anti-poverty research has shown that wage theft is among the largest financial abuses, and there’s very little an employee can do to fight it. When the scales are uneven it’s the government’s responsibility to get involved and balance them out.