Delaware- The U.S. Dept of Labor reports recovering $398,000 in unpaid financial compensation owed to employees by their employers. In all, nearly 600 Delaware workers are involved, including 268 in Kent County, and 172 workers in Sussex County.
Back pay may come from work that was performed but never paid for, or could have been performed but the employee was prevented from performing.
Agents say much of that money remains unclaimed because some of the workers due back wages cannot be located. In many cases, the employees change jobs or change addresses and cannot be notified of the money due to them. Name changes or an employer’s failure to retain contact information can also make it difficult for the Wage and Hour Division to find employees and put back wages recovered into their hands.
They go on to say The Wage and Hour Division can only hold unclaimed back wages for three years before it is required to turn it over to the Department of the Treasury.
Click here to find the "workers Owed Wages (WOW) search tool. It allows workers to enter information to find out if the division is holding back wages on their behalf. The WOW system is currently available in English and Spanish and allows workers and their advocates to answer a series of questions to determine if they are owed wages and to easily claim them.
For assistance with the Workers Owed Wages system, workers and advocates can contact the Wage and Hour Division’s Philadelphia District Office at (215) 597-4950. Calls can be answered in over 200 languages.
