PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The feds say $112 million has been recovered for more than 33,000 workers in Pennsylvania over the last four years — more workers than in any other state.
The Department of Labor announced on Tuesday that its Wage and Hour Division recovered more than $1 billion in back wages and damages for more than 615,000 workers nationwide since the start of the Biden-Harris administration.
“We are talking about the promise of a just day’s pay for a hard day’s work,” said Julie Su, acting secretary of the Department of Labor. “Every worker who goes to work should come home having the wages that they earned in their pockets.”
Sometimes, she said, workers are forced to clock in late or stay on the job after they were made to clock out. Others are classified as independent contractors when they should be considered employees. Still, more have their tips taken by their employers.
Their work is critical for businesses, too — Su said honest companies can’t compete when those who break the law are allowed to get away with it.
“Many of them work in fairly vulnerable settings,” she explained. “They are home care workers, hotel housekeepers, farm workers — these are often workers who do invisible jobs. People don’t necessarily see them but their work is very important … and those workers deserve to be paid what they earned.”
In New Jersey, officials said $38.8 million was recovered for more than 17,000 workers, and in Delaware, $3.3 million for 2,600 workers.
“We have a team here in Pennsylvania that has been really active in responding to complaints and also to addressing the issues that the most vulnerable workers in the state face,” Su added.
People who believe they have been cheated by their employers can contact the Department of Labor’s helpline at 1-866-4-US-WAGE.