Does your company owe you back wages? A government agency just sent out a reminder on social media about an online resource you can use to see if an employer owes you money.
The Department of Labor’s Workers Owed Wages tool lets you search an employer’s name to see if it owes back wages to employees. Last fiscal year, the system helped send $26.9 million to workers.
The department’s Wage and Hour Division is responsible for enforcing federal labor laws, and its investigations can result in workers being owed money for employer violations. For example, an employer may be required to pay back wages if it does not adequately compensate employees for overtime hours.
Although the Department of Labor says it works hard to try to contact people who are owed money, there are cases where it is unable to locate an individual.
In one of the largest recent cases, the Philadelphia-based company US Medical Staffing was ordered to pay more than $9 million in back wages and damages to about 1,700 workers. (The ruling was issued in 2022, but as of December the employees were still owed more than $2.7 million, according to United States today.)
The department will hold the unclaimed funds for three years, after which it will send the money to the U.S. Treasury.
Anyone who suspects that a current or former employer owes them money is encouraged to use the search tool. Doing a search only takes a few moments and can be worth it. Last year, the average amount paid to workers with back wages was about $1,300.
How to find back wages and unclaimed money
The Department of Labor’s online tool is simple to use: First enter your employer’s name to see if it appears in the database. If so, enter your name to see if you are owed back wages. Finally, follow the remaining instructions and submit all necessary documents to finalize your claim. If you are having trouble locating unpaid wages, you can call the Wage & Hour Division at 1-866-487-9243 for assistance.
The Workers Owed Wages tool isn’t the only government website that can help you find money in your name. You can continue your search for unclaimed funds by using the Treasury Hunt search tool, which can locate unpaid Treasury securities and missing interest. You can also search state treasury websites to see if they have unclaimed property you can claim.
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