Systemic wage theft has long been part of the labour migration landscape in every region of the world. During COVID-19, egregious underpayment of migrant workers was even more widespread as businesses encountered financial pressures and vast numbers of workers were repatriated without payment of their wages. Though every jurisdiction has judicial and/or administrative mechanisms to address wage claims, employers in every country can be confident that very few unpaid migrant workers will ever use those mechanisms to recover their wages. This is because the system is stacked against them at every stage in the wage claim process.

In 2021, Migrant Justice Institute launched a global multi-year program of work to improve migrant workers’ access to justice for wage theft, in partnership with Solidarity Center, The ILAW Network and MIDEQ, with generous support from Open Society Foundations.

RESEARCH AND POLICY BRIEF | Avenues for exploited migrant workers to remain in their country of employment to pursue labour remedies

Exploited migrant workers often don't raise complaints because they fear losing their visa or being deported. There is generally no opportunity for migrant workers to pursue wage claims at the end of their stay because they must immediately leave the country.

As a result, abusive employers are never held to account, and the vast majority return home without the wages they are owed. Pursuing claims after they leave is extremely difficult.

Governments must create migration frameworks that reduce the vulnerability of migrant workers who address exploitation, and enable exploited migrants to extend their stay for a short period in the country of employment to remedy wage theft and hold employers accountable for labour violations.

Our new Research and Policy Brief sets out best practice models that governments should consider implementing, with discussion of current global examples of promising laws and policies intended to achieve these goals.

This includes current examples of

• visa portability for exploited migrant workers to bring claims and find a new sponsor,

• short term visas with work rights to pursue wage claims at the end of a migrant worker’s stay,

• deferral of removal (with work rights) for undocumented workers who pursue labour claims, and

• visas for victims of trafficking and criminal wage theft and exploitation to pursue civil labour claims.

EXPLAINER | New tools for governments, business and advocates on migrant workers and wage theft

Wage theft from migrant workers and barriers to justice are poorly understood. We have produced a short Explainer document and accompanying video based on extensive empirical research in different global regions. The Explainers provide governments, business and advocates with accessible answers to key questions:

• What is wage theft and what forms can it take?

• Why do employers systemically underpay migrant workers?

• How is wage theft related to forced labour and modern slavery?

• Why don’t migrant workers report wage theft and bring claims against employers? What barriers are created by migration laws, and why don’t labour claim systems work for migrant workers?

• How can governments and business reduce risks and make wage claims work?

We hope the Explainers can inform and support global, national and local campaigns for reform.

Please share widely.

REPORT | Migrant Workers’ Access to Justice for Wage Theft: A Global Study of Promising Initiatives

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