The expectation that workers give their time and effort for anything other than adequate compensation, directly through monetary payments or through benefits like insurance that less directly bring financial ease, is asinine. Everything from unpaid internships to low-paying internships to unpaid overtime for salaried workers (unless the salary is very high already) is exploitative, a way for someone to profit at the expense of someone who is likely working far with greater energy than the person who benefits the most from the labor. As far as Biblical ethics is concerned, with Christianity being very probably true in light of the evidence pointing towards it, to delay compensation to even a day later than a worker's labor (Deuteronomy 24:14-15), at least for poor manual laborers, is unjust, so workplace norms that entail weekly or biweekly payments are already exploitative to some extent.
However, aside from under-compensation, which appears to be a very common problem in countries like America, and aside from delivering the correct payment days after the actual labor was performed, there are other potential complications to receiving that which a worker has earned. Even when they have completed their tasks or worked their hours, payroll can intentionally or by neglect sabotage the employee's compensation. While some employers and their payroll figures might not give workers inaccurate paystubs/checks, others make it necessary to not just scrutinize one's pay information in order to confirm it, but also to correct expected mistakes. The more convoluted a compensation system is, the more a predatory employer or negligent/malicious payroll administrator coud lean into this to underpay someone.
This form of underpayment is not about paying people at an unlivable rate or one that otherwise does not fit the quality of the work, the individual skill required, or the strenuous nature of the job. It occurs when a worker is not even being paid as much as they were promised for their completed labor. For instance, someone to be given a two month bonus on every hour worked might find that they were not actually given the fixed bonus for every hour worked, or that a lower bonus amount was applied to all hours. Whether through intentional mispayment or inaccuracy through laziness, this is a possible form of exploitation, at least when it is not truly accidental and eagerly corrected by payroll.
One additional layer to the exploitation when this is anything more than a total accident--and quickly, earnestly made right--is the amount of time workers have to spend calculating and confirming as best they can which amounts are missing and for what specific parts of their pay. Employees sometimes have to put in effort outside of working hours just to ensure that they were paid correctly for labor they have already given, spending some of their perhaps sparse free time bothered with workplace-related issues. Thus, for a worker who catches the error, calculates the exact pay disparity, and reports it to their company, there could be a very demoralizing and inconvenient loss of time that could have been devoted to things far greater than mere work. Of course, they would also very likely not be paid for this additional time spent focused on work issues.
There are many ways that a worker could be taken advantage of. Unfortunately, vigilance on the part of the employee might be the only way to notice some exploitation, as it is improbable that a greed or power-hungry corporate leader and his or her payroll will voluntarily search out these errors or, if they do find them on their own, correct them unprompted by employee complaints. The missing money would not necessarily be deposited or handed over without delay anyway. It is never a worker's fault that they are improperly compensated short of failing to alert their employer of their hours or tasks if needed, and yet the former is the one who will almost always suffer the most when a payday mistake is made on purpose or by accident. The disproportionate payment of laborers can take many forms that all need to be made right.
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