DOL recovers record $322M in back wages during FY 2019

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently announced that its Wage and Hour Division (WHD) had recovered a record $322 million in wages owed to workers during fiscal year (FY) 2019. The WHD also set a new record for compliance assistance events, holding more than 3,700 educational outreach events in FY 2019—­including on-the-ground presentations and training—to help job creators understand their responsibilities under the law.

The WHD has increased its recovery of back wages each year between FY 2015 and FY 2019, collecting approximately $200 million in FY 2015 nd raking in $322 million during the most recent fiscal year. The agency has recovered more than $1.4 billion in back wages over the last five years. The WHD estimates that during the same five-year period, more than 1.3 million workers received additional benefits as a result of its enforcement efforts.

In FY 2019, the WHD collected an average of $883,000 per day in back wages. WHD investigators also reported that during the past fiscal year, they recovered approximately $1,025 in back wages for each employee they assisted. That amounts to more than three times what an average retail cashier would earn in a typical workweek.