Thousands of workers are owed wages from businesses in Georgia that violated labor laws, and the U.S. Department of Labor is pushing to return that money during the new year.
More than $1.8 million in unclaimed recovered wages are owed to about 5,600 Georgia workers, according to the federal government.
“Getting this money back into the hands of those that earned it is a top priority of ours,” said Karla Falcon, who works in the Atlanta District Office for the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division.
Officials with the federal agency said that past campaigns to promote the so-called “Worker Owed Wages,” or “WOW” program, have resulted in a spike of workers reclaiming wages that are owed to them.
Workers can visit the Labor Department’s website and follow the instructions for searching the WOW database. Even if a person doesn’t find wages owed to them, Falcon encouraged people to share the website with family or friends who may have been the victim of wage theft.
The money that’s recovered is back pay from various labor investigations of businesses in Georgia.
Investigators first determine that an employer has violated the law by failing to pay adequate wages to workers. The business that broke the law then tries to track down that worker.
But if the employer can’t find that worker, then that money is sent to the Department of Labor. If federal officials can’t find the worker after three years, then the money is handed over to the Department of Treasury.
“Then it’s completely out of our control,” Falcon said of the funds.
The law that impacts the largest number of workers is the Fair Labor Standards Act, said Falcon, which includes the federal minimum wage and overtime pay requirements. Under this law, covered workers are entitled to a federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. Workers who are covered must also be paid overtime at a rate of at least one and a half times their regular rate of pay after 40 hours in a workweek.
Nationwide, there is around $170 million owed to approximately 189,000 workers in unclaimed cash, according to the federal government. Other workers who should search for unclaimed wages include those in agriculture, construction, hospitality, the home health care industry or federal contract work.
“Any worker who believes that they may have been underpaid by an employer should check (the database),” said Falcon.
Additionally, she said that anyone in Georgia who believes their employer is violating wage laws can contact the U.S. Department of Labor at 1-866-487-9243. The calls are confidential and call takers who can assist workers in many languages.
For more information on how to file a complaint visit dol.gov/agencies/whd/contact/complaints.
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