(The Center Square) – The U.S. Department of Labor is holding $5 million in back pay for more than 7,000 Illinois workers whose employers have been found guilty of underpaying them.
People can use the website Workers Owed Wages to do a two-minute search to see if they are owed back wages.
“This is a program that we have initiated to try to get the money to the workers who have rightfully earned it. The program is both in English and in Spanish,” said Tom Gauza, district director of the wage and hour division of the U.S. Department of Labor in Chicago.
Type in the name of the company and the name of the worker. If the name comes up, the person should get a check in about six weeks, Gauza said.
When a company is cited for violating the wage law, it pays money into a fund designed to reimburse the affected workers. The WOW program is designed to get payments to workers who may have moved or changed jobs and have not been located.
Workers only have three years to claim their money. If the money is not claimed, the back wages are returned to the U.S. Treasury.