Maybe, just maybe, the feds and the states (in the US) should pass laws like this: Employers are liable to the government for four times the cost of providing SNAP (f/k/a food stamps), public housing, and other welfare benefits to their employees.
1/3 of any fines collected in this way would be payable to citizens who report the problems.
It's totally unfair for the taxpayers to subsidize businesses by feeding and housing their underpaid employees.
The point of the draconian 4x charge is to make it less expensive for companies to do the right thing and quit with the starvation wages already.
But legislatures work for their donors, not their citizens, so it won't happen.
1/3 of any fines collected in this way would be payable to citizens who report the problems.
It's totally unfair for the taxpayers to subsidize businesses by feeding and housing their underpaid employees.
The point of the draconian 4x charge is to make it less expensive for companies to do the right thing and quit with the starvation wages already.
But legislatures work for their donors, not their citizens, so it won't happen.