In a Tech Republic blog post on why Programmers are not subject to labor laws most workers expect is an outline of current methods to stiff U.S. tech. Great post, read the whole thing.

Here is a small sample of these kinds of abusive relationships that I have personally experienced or witnessed:

• H1B visa mills (think: “puppy mills” with immigrant workers instead of dogs) that lure workers to the US, and then hold the requirement of employment over their heads to force them to work for sub-par wages and often in illegal circumstances.
• Staffing agencies getting paid by the hour, but paying their workers on a salary, and forcing them to work grueling hours.
• The old “comp time” ruse where hourly workers are not being paid overtime wages as required by law, but instead granted comp time. While this would normally be legal, everyone knows that the comp time will never be taken due to the demands of the project, so the worker is effectively working for free.
• Being told by the client that overtime is mandatory, but the contract agency then rejects the timesheet and claims that the overtime “was not authorized.”
• Laying off swaths of long term employees because an “outside vendor” was brought in to do the work. During the exit interview, they were told that they could be hired by the outside vendor to do their old job, but they’d take a deep pay check, lose all time accrued, receive inferior benefits, and no longer be able to move up in the ranks unless they were “converted” to employee again. The kicker? The “outside vendor” was owned by the company!