Catholic Labor Network report finds wage theft in construction industry Construction workers rebuild the driveway in front of Union Station in Washington July 25, 2012. (CNS photo/Jonathan Ernst, Reuters) By Mark Pattison • Catholic News Service • Posted April 14, 2021 WASHINGTON (CNS) — A report released April 14 by the Catholic Labor Network reveals that wage theft is rampant in the construction industry in the District of Columbia. The report, “The Underground Economy and Wage Theft in Washington D.C.’s Commercial Construction Sector,” found that “workers are misclassified as independent contractors or paid in cash off the books, denying the public necessary tax revenues and denying workers the protection of wage and hour laws.”