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Is a Nevada paint contractor not facing jail time despite committing millions of dollars of wage theft?

By Austin Tannenbaum
YES

Cory Summerhays, owner of Unforgettable Coatings, underpaid workers for more than a decade, withholding overtime and weekend wages under threat of reporting his immigrant workers, the U.S. District Court for Nevada ruled in January. A settlement agreed to by the parties involved requires the company to pay nearly $3.7 million in back wages, liquidated damages, interest and penalties to 593 employees in Arizona, Idaho, Nevada and Utah.

However, Summerhays did not receive jail time. This is because wage theft cases are typically tried as civil suits, which award monetary damages, rather than criminal suits, which impose prison sentences.

Some states do have laws that treat serious cases of wage theft as criminal offenses, but prosecutions are exceedingly rare.

Employers collectively commit as much as $50 billion dollars in wage theft against their employees each year — more than three times the amount committed in robberies and other property theft, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
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