Houston employees are encouraged by the U.S. Department of Labor to use a recently opened federal website to see if they are due back pay.
Over 5,000 workers in the Houston area may be due $4.3 million in past wages, which are now held by the Department’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD).
The money is a part of a continuous endeavor to guarantee that workers be paid what they are legally entitled to. The Department of Labor is currently attempting to get the unclaimed wages into the hands of workers who were not paid in full by their employers.
Workers can now determine if they are eligible to get back pay thanks to the agency’s Workers Owed Wages (WOW) tool. The application offers a user-friendly interface for looking up unclaimed pay. Bryant Banes, managing partner at Neel, Hooper & Banes, P.C., a labor lawyer based in Houston, described the elements that are frequently at the core of wage disputes.
According to Banes, such problems typically result from a Department of Labor inquiry, which is frequently centered on back pay owed as a result of overtime breaches or employee misclassification. When employees are mistakenly classified as independent contractors, salaried employees, or exempt workers rather than as hourly workers entitled to overtime compensation, this is known as misclassification.
He emphasized that pay disputes, which are frequently decided by the DOL, may only impact particular worker groups.
According to Banes, this probe most likely focused on workers who received flat salaries while they ought to have received hourly compensation for all hours worked because of erroneous classification.
Banes also issued a warning against a widespread misunderstanding that all employees impacted by these inquiries will be automatically compensated for their lost income.
He stated that not all individuals will receive a share of this. The affected workers are identified by the Department of Labor, which then either notifies them personally or mandates that the employer do so.
The WOW tool is intended to assist workers with recovering earnings from a variety of industries, including construction and hospitality, where wage theft is frequently common. It is a component of the Department of Labor’s larger effort to enforce fair pay and labor laws. Employers’ violations of labor regulations pertaining to minimum wage, overtime compensation, and appropriate record-keeping are the root cause of many of the cases.
Ricardo Hidalgo, the organizing director of Teamster Local 988, emphasized the wider significance of back pay awards.
Any employee who receives retroactive pay is not receiving it for nothing. According to Hidalgo, it’s their money in the first place. In addition to benefiting employees and their families, this strengthens the economy. Because these awards address the inequities that workers frequently experience when businesses take use of legal loopholes to avoid paying fair wages, we wholeheartedly support them.
Additionally, Hidalgo commended the DOL’s and the federal government’s efforts to hold businesses responsible.
According to him, employees lack access to the same resources as businesses, such as HR departments and lawyers. The Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor is frequently their only option. Although it can take more than a year, the process is necessary. Without the DOL, workers would still be living paycheck to paycheck while big firms kept the money, invested it, and made a profit.
Workers in Texas can also check with the Texas Comptroller’s office for unclaimed property, such as checks and earnings, rebates, and other financial goods, in addition to the federal tool. In keeping with its impressive return record in recent years, the state office returned a record $422 million in unclaimed property for the fiscal year 2024, which concluded on September 30.
approximately the past five years, the Comptroller’s office claims to have restored approximately $1.5 billion in unclaimed property. These monies, which might include money due to people or even businesses, range in size from modest sums of $25 to hundreds of dollars.
The Texas Comptroller’s unclaimed property database supports a wider range of financial claims, whereas the federal website concentrates exclusively on unpaid wages. To be sure they are not overlooking any unpaid money, Texans are urged to look through both resources.
For additional information regarding unclaimed earnings or to look for unpaid payments, employees can visit the Texas Comptroller’s unclaimed property website or the Department of Labor’s WOW.
Note: Every piece of content is rigorously reviewed by our team of experienced writers and editors to ensure its accuracy. Our writers use credible sources and adhere to strict fact-checking protocols to verify all claims and data before publication. If an error is identified, we promptly correct it and strive for transparency in all updates, feel free to reach out to us via email. We appreciate your trust and support!
