U.S. Labor Department Holding Nearly $1.5 Million Owed to Virginia Workers

The U.S. Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division is currently holding $1,446,548.24 that belongs to 2,800 workers in Virginia, collected when investigations found employers had not paid the workers proper wages, according to the Department.

The Labor Department is typically able to put the money it collects right into the hands of the workers who earned it; however, because some workers take different jobs or move away, they are often hard to locate, according to the Labor Department. If the money goes unclaimed, it goes to the Treasury Department.

Workers who think they are owed money can use the Wages Owed Workers (WOW) online tool as a resource, the Labor Department says.

WOW allows you to simply input an employer’s name, location and the worker’s last name. The system will indicate if the agency has collected back wages on the worker’s behalf and prompt the worker on how to collect it.

Note: All of the information is also provided in Spanish on the WOW website.

To find out more, visit the Labor Department’s Web site.

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