The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "wages" ...
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A story of hope, and a lopsided deal
A six-month Boston Globe investigation revealed that a contractor from California was repeatedly employing impoverished, drug-addicted men from an evangelical church to renovate hotels across the country. The story started in Boston, where reporter Casey Ross discovered that the contractor, Installations Plus, was paying illegally low wages to workers trucked up from Victory Outreach Church in Philadelphia. He also traced the illegal behavior to other Massachusetts communities and then to California, where he spent several days tracking down Victory Outreach members who recalled working for the contractor in that state. The result of his reporting was a richly detailed narrative that took readers into a little-known corner of America’s underground economy. After the story’s publication, the state of Massachusetts announced an effort to strengthen labor enforcement against companies that fund and manage projects where significant violations are found. In addition, California labor officials initiated an investigation into the employment practices of Installations Plus.
Tags: Economy; low wages; contractor; workers
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Wage Theft In the Fields
American farmworkers have often experienced egregious abuses, but nothing is more pervasive, nor harder to ferret out, than the wage theft that results from a practice called farm-labor contracting. Found in the fields of every handpicked crop in the country, farm-labor contractors not only provide growers with crews, but also handle wages and manage everything from verifying immigration status to providing workers' compensation. The problem is, the contractors systematically underpay the workers. “Farm labor contractors,” says writer Tracie McMillan, “give American produce growers what companies like China's Foxconn offer to Apple: a way to outsource a costly and complicated part of the business, often saving money in the process and creating a firewall between the brand and the working conditions under which its products are made.” And yet McMillan — a fellow with both the Knight-Wallace program at University of Michigan, and the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University — found that enforcement is rare: In 2008, inspectors visited only 1,499 of the more than 2 million farms nationwide; in 2011, California inspectors found just seven minimum wage violations on the state’s 86,000 farms. Fines are minimal: “It's cheaper to violate the law than to follow the law,” says one farmworker advocate. And wage theft is tedious to prove, requiring inspectors to interview workers, analyze time cards, and collect payroll records. That's why workers and their advocates in California are counting on a lawsuit brought earlier this year on behalf of two farmworkers against the contractors who hired them—as well as the growers who outsourced the work. The suit alleges that the contractors routinely undercounted the hours worked, failed to pay minimum wage or overtime, failed to provide safe or sanitary working conditions, and housed the workers in unsafe and unsanitary living quarters. The “collective action” suit—open to anyone who can prove he or she experienced the same treatment—may cover thousands of workers and deliver awards substantial enough to deter other employers from the same practices.
Tags: Labor; farms; working conditions; wage
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Help Wanted
The series explored work opportunities for those in one of the state's most vulnerable populations. It explained a little-known federal law that allows workers with disabilities to earn than less than minimum wage and took readers inside sheltered workshops where more than 80 percent of workers earn less than half of the minimum wage.
Tags: minimum wage; sheltered workers
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Waging important legal fights
This is a collection of a work related to important legal fights waged by The Arizona Republic , both alone and with its newsroom partner, 12News, to obtain public documents and records that were vital to telling several stories, including the Jan. 8, 2011, mass shootings in Tucson that resulted in the wounding of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.
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Nursing homes received millions while cuttings staff, wages
A 2004 law giving California nursing homes more funding is questioned when reporters found that more than 230 homes had either cut staff or wages.
Tags: nursing homes; patients; wages; retirement homes; elderly
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Good as gold: State pensions facing scrutiny
Public employees in Ohio have better wages and benefits than the taxpayers who support them. Taxpayer money funds the system which allows workers to retire a decade or more sooner than workers in the private sector. Also, more than one in four public school superindentents had received pension payments and salary simultaneously.
Tags: pension; private sector; public employee; pension funds; superintendents
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"Stimulating Hypocrisy"
This report investigates the 2010 "Pledge to America" campaign waged by Republicans. As many Republicans were labeling the stimulus plan as wasteful, a series of letters obtained by the Center for Public Integrity revealed that these were the "same lawmakers requesting stimulus funds for their pet projects."
Tags: Congress; Pledge for America; stimulus; Republicans; pet projects; earmarks
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"Immigrants and the California Economy"
In this four-part series, Ron Campbell investigates the complicated topic of immigration in California. Campbell reveals that California relies on immigrant labor and "brains" more than "any other state." He also finds that California's economy is "closely tied" to immigrants and that education levels play a huge part in wages and quality of life for Californians.
Tags: FOIA; PUMS; Government Accountability Office; Department of Homeland Security; Immigration & Customs Enforcement; Reagan; illegal immigration
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Four Stars for Hire
Retired senior officers are been hired by the US military as senior mentors. These mentors counsel current commanders and run war games. Further, the mentors are being paid at rates much higher than the active-duty officers. Also, they are not just working for the military; many are employed by defense contractors. So these mentors are not only being paid large sums by the US government, they are also receiving income from the defense firms.
Tags: Retired senior officers; Military; Mentors; Commanders; Defense contractors; Financial; Marines; Pentagon; Wages; Generals; Admirals; US government
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A World of Hurt
The New York State workers compensation system was criticized, but seldom examined. This series exposes the costs of the system failing it most basic mission: “to resolve jobsite injuries without further damaging workers or hurting their employers.” Often workers had to wait a number of months to have their cases heard, hearings were short, workers were fired after being injured and claimant lawyers often didn’t think of the long-term results.
Tags: Workers; Workers compensation; Costs; Jobs; Jobsite injuries; Damage; Hurt; Injured workers; Bosses; Legal; Medical treatment; Replacement wages; Wages; Compensation system