Philly workers get cheated every week | Morning Newsletter

Expect mostly sunny skies with temps reaching the high 60s.

More than 100,000 Philly workers get illegally cheated out of their pay each week by their bosses.

The city has a “Bad Actors” list, an attempt to shame employers into compliance but that doesn’t always work.

Our lead story follows the extent of Philly’s wage theft problem.

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— Taylor Allen (@TayImanAllen, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

Two years after his boss shorted him thousands of dollars of pay for his construction work, Marcos Tlacopilco won in court.

But nearly five years later, Tlacopilco never got the $12,000 owed to him.

The scope: Researchers at Temple Law’s Sheller Center for Social Justice estimate that every week 130,000 Philadelphia workers get illegally cheated out of their pay by their bosses. But most won’t take action to get what they’re owed.

Who it affects: These workers are largely low-wage; many are undocumented. Some don’t know their rights or aren’t sure how to get help. They fear getting fired or reported to immigration enforcement — both illegal forms of retaliation.

But even if they do file a wage theft claim at the city Department of Labor or in court, enforcing court judgements and city labor determinations is a problem.

Philadelphia has a powerful wage theft law that gives the Department of Labor the ability to revoke or suspend business licenses of employers. But it has never done it.

Keep reading to follow the lengths some workers have to go for a chance to get their earned wages.

Tamika Jones, 46, could barely finish a sentence without gasping when the emergency medical technicians arrived at her Delaware County home on Jan. 22, 2021.

An EMT did not check her temperature, blood pressure, or heart rate yet urged her not to go to the hospital.

She died the next day.

Jones’ sister, Keisha Cappel, has been trying to hold the health-care workers responsible ever since, but lawyer after lawyer told the family they had few options because of sweeping legal protections for medical providers during the COVID-19 public health emergency.

She finally filed lawsuits last month in the U.S. Eastern District of Pennsylvania and state court, a rare attempt to demand accountability over claims of a botched COVID medical response.

Important note: Just 24 cases alleging wrongful death or malpractice related to COVID have been filed in Pennsylvania, according to the COVID-19 Complaint Tracker.

Continue reading to learn about the family’s legal obstacles ahead.

Young people haven’t been quiet about their criticisms of baby boomers.

Turns out, boomers don’t even like boomers. While more than half of millennials and 42% of Gen Xers say that boomers “made life worse” for them, almost one-third of boomers believe that too.

A solid portion of them could be Generation Jones. They are younger, tail-end boomers who came of age in the disco and Watergate-obsessed 1970s, not the hippie-spawning and Vietnam War-protesting 1960s. They believe they share little in common with their noisy cohorts.

Necessary context: The name Jones refers to the idea of “keeping up with the Joneses” as well as the drug-use slang of “jonesing” or wanting more.

While this generation had many that achieved financial success, analysts say a large portion was harmed by an economy that drastically changed as they came of age.

Keep reading to learn more about why many of the children of the ‘70s have an uncertain future.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art lost its Super Bowl bet against the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City when the Chiefs beat the Eagles.

Which art piece is headed to Kansas City on a loan?

A. The Shepherd Girl by George Romney

B. Sailing by Thomas Eakins

C. Venus Rising from the Sea — A Deception by Raphaelle Peale

D. None of the above

Find out if you know the answer.

📹 Watching: A look inside one of the last 24-hour diners in Philly fighting to remain.

📰 Reading: Columnist Helen Ubiñas’ latest piece, “Slain Temple officer’s running club vows to continue his fight against gun violence.”

Hint: Dancing since 1970

COHAN PLAID

We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here. Send us your own original anagram to unscramble if you’d like. Cheers to William Kunkle, who correctly guessed Wednesday’s answer: Mike Stack. Email us if you know the answer.

And that’s it from me. Thank you for starting your day with The Inquirer. I’m starting mine by reading Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez 📚.