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On a Middle East visit, Sen. Richard Blumenthal rejects a Gaza takeover. President's Day protests erupt around the country against White House moves, and another aviation accident draws attention to recent FAA cuts.

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Rural America struggles with opioids and homelessness in unexpected ways, Colorado's Lariat Ditch could help spur local recreation, and book deliveries revive rural communities hit by Hurricane Helene.

Labor Department wants MD workers to claim their wages

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Wednesday, January 8, 2025   

The U.S. Department of Labor is holding $6.8 million in unpaid wages for more than 5,000 Maryland workers, and said time is running out to claim the wages.

The Labor Department enforces the Fair Labor Standards Act, which includes regulations for minimum wage, overtime pay, record-keeping and youth employment.

A new study labeled Maryland the worst state for wage theft, with more than $2,200 of back wages per employee.

Nick Fiorello, wage and hour division district director at the Baltimore office of the Labor Department, said they may investigate a complaint from a worker or third party but they also look into specific industries considered common wage-theft culprits.

"Low-wage industries; construction industry, residential home-care industry, restaurants, food service industry, landscaping," Fiorello outlined. "Sometimes we're just initiating investigations out of one of those priorities that has nothing to do with a complaint."

Workers can see if they are owed unpaid wages by going to the Department of Labor's database, called Workers Owed Wages. There, workers can look for their employer and their own name to see if they are owed unpaid wages.

The $6.8 million is a drop in the bucket of total unpaid wages in Maryland. One study from the Center for Popular Democracy estimates nearly 600,000 Marylanders are cheated out of wages each year, totaling nearly $900 million a year.

Fiorello stressed it is important to let people know about the millions in unpaid wages because time could be running out for some people to collect. He added the Department of Labor legally can only hold unpaid wages for so long.

"We keep the money for up to three years and unfortunately, we have to pass it along to Treasury after that," Fiorello pointed out. "The workers do have a short time period in order to claim the money, so that's why we want to make sure folks understand that there's this website that exists that they can check out and see if they are owed some money."

A study from the Economic Policy Institute found nationally, workers lose out on $15 billion in wages just from minimum wage violations.


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