The largest category of us theft is wage theft. So, ya know, gonna guess it's not legal

It was.

In Ohio? I'm almost positive it isn't legal. It's definitely illegal in states like California. But they're banking on nobody recording their interview audio (which I will now be doing as Ohio is single-party state) and nobody complaining if asked.

I doubt it's a company policy, but I did send an email to their company offices to complain about it, for all the good it will do.