U.S. Department of Labors Wage and Hour Division collects more than $185 million wage recovery for FY 2008

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division (WHD) today announced its enforcement data for Fiscal Year (FY) 2008. In FY 2008, WHD recouped back wages totaling $185,287,827 for 228,645 workers. This represents a 40 percent increase over the FY 2001 figure. Since FY 2001, WHD has recouped more than $1.4 billion back wages for over two million workers.

"We're committed to ensuring that workers are paid the wages they're due," said Alexander J. Passantino, acting administrator for the Wage and Hour Division. "These continued strong enforcement results demonstrate that our comprehensive approach is working. We also urge Congress to provide the funds we have requested in the president's FY 09 budget to hire additional investigators."

WHD is responsible for administering and enforcing some of our nation's most comprehensive labor laws, including: the minimum wage, overtime, and child labor provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act; the Family and Medical Leave Act; the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act; worker protections provided in several temporary visa programs; and the prevailing wage requirements of the Davis-Bacon Act and the Service Contract Act.

More information on agency results is available on the Wage and Hour Division Web site, www.dol.gov/whd/.

###

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.