DOL Wage and Hour Division recovered $240M from employers last year
Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division (WHD) Administrator Dr. David Weil announced that over $240M was recovered from employers on behalf of workers in 2014.
270,000 workers were awarded an average of $890 from last year’s damages recoveries. Although this is below the previous year’s recovery of $249M, Douglas Hass of Franczek Radelet says this is an “enormous total given WHD’s limited investigative capabilities“.
An increased focus on data analysis was identified as one of the reasons that WHD initiated 43% of the wage and hour investigations for that year, a notable increase from 35% five years ago.
Weil discussed the news in practical terms.
“The Wage and Hour Division collected an average of more than $659,000 in back wages for workers every day last year. That’s enough for more than 3,500 working families to buy a week’s groceries.”
Hass comments on the announcement from another perspective. Motivated by the WHD 2014 recoveries and FLSA lawsuits on the rise, he suggests that employers audit their wage and hour practices, paying particular attention to volunteers and interns, contractors, meal breaks and wages for salaried employees.
In 80% of WHD investigations, a violation is found. It doesn’t take a statistical expert to know that it is employers’ interest to be proactive in identifying wage and hour weaknesses.
You can learn more about WHD Administrator David Weil here, and you can read an introduction to measuring unmeasured work, by statistical expert Dr. Dwight Steward, here.
