PITTSBURGH — The U.S. Department of Labor is trying to connect thousands of people with money they should have been paid in the first place.
The department’s Wage and Hour Division is tasked with enforcing the country’s labor laws. When they discover violations, they work to recoup unpaid wages on behalf of employees.
“Sometimes they were paid straight time for overtime, sometimes they didn’t receive their tips as required, sometimes they weren’t paid for all their hours worked,” said Dan Doherty, Assistant District Director with the United States Department of Labor Wage and Hour Divison’s Pittsburgh office. “Regardless of the reason, our investigators will conduct an investigation, arrive at those conclusions and we’ll address these with the employer.”
Doherty said the department collects the difference and tries to connect the employees with the money they receive.
“When these investigations are successfully resolved, sometimes the employer deposits the money with us, so the government has the back wages of the workers,” Doherty said. “And our team, our technicians will reach out to the workers to locate them, find them, get them their money so that they have it. That doesn’t always happen.”
In several cases, employees change jobs or addresses while their employer is under investigation, and sometimes the money goes unclaimed.
In Allegheny County alone, 1,100 people are owed $1.1 million in back wages.
Statewide, the department says 16,000 Pennsylvanians are owed a total of $16.4 million.
That’s why the department established the Workers Owed Wages website.
“You enter your employer’s name, and if they’re in the database, that’s going to pop up,” Doherty said. “At that point, you have the ability to put your own information in there to see if you are due back wages.”
Click here to see if you are owed back pay.
In addition to the online database, Doherty said people can contact the department’s Pittsburgh office at 412-395-4996 and a technician can search for you.
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