Are you owed back pay? U.S. Department of Labor searching for Maryland workers
BALTIMORE - More than 4,000 workers in Maryland are owed millions in back pay, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
The department said about $6.6 million was recovered by its Wage and Hour Division. That amount includes thousands of dollars in back wages due to workers in the Baltimore area.
However, a significant amount of that owed money remains unclaimed because some of the workers cannot be located, the department said in a news release Thursday.
Some of the reasons the money goes unclaimed are due to employees changing jobs, changing addresses, name changes, or an employer not keeping contact information.
The Wage and Hour Division can only hold the unclaimed back pay for three years before it is required to turn it over to the Department of Treasury.
Now, the agency has developed a new tool that can help workers find out if they are owed back pay and how to receive it.
The tool is called Workers Owed Wages (WOW). It is currently available in English and Spanish.
For assistance over the phone, contact the Wage and Hour Division's Baltimore office at (410) 962-6211.