ABSTRACT
This chapter concerned with the question of what garment workers did when they felt they were treated inequitably or unfairly at work. By conducting 16 semi-structured interviews with retired garment workers and employing a qualitative analysis, it was learned that neither employee theft nor other forms of deviance were often selected when responding to matters involving inequity. Estimates of the cost of employee theft are astronomical. In one midwestern company, a majority of its arbitrated employee complaints concerned issues relating to employee theft. Employee deviance is a violation of any formal or informal work place norm. Employee crime refers to any illegal activity taking place at work. Of central importance for this study was the concern for equity, or what has been operationally defined as fairness at work, and its relationship to employee theft. Inequity is one of the central factors helping to explain employee deviance or theft.
