News Release

Printer-Friendly Version

ESA News Release: [06/01/2006]
Contact Name: Dollie Hatchett
Phone Number: (202) 693-4651
Release Number: 06-0924-NAT

U.S. Department of Labor Launches New Online Back Wage Employee Locator

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL) Wage and Hour Division (WHD) today launched a new Web-based back wage employee locator to provide easy and secure access for employees to find and collect back wages due to them.

The new back wage employee locator guides employees through an online series of questions that helps them determine if they are owed back wages as a result of a WHD investigation. The new system queries a database that contains information about people who are due back wages and their employment history. Employees should be ready to enter information about their past or present employment, such as the name and location of their employer. Those due back wages will be provided restitution upon verification of their identity.

"The U.S. Department of Labor is pleased to be able to implement this new locator program," said Alfred B. Robinson Jr., acting administrator of the Wage and Hour Division. "Although the Wage and Hour Division locates most of the employees due back wages, we expect this effort to facilitate payment to many of those employees that we have been unable to find."

This new electronic program is part of an ongoing effort at the DOL to meet the e-government objectives of the president's management agenda. The back wage employee locator is accessible from the Wage and Hour Division's home page at www.wagehour.dol.gov or directly at https://www.dol-esa.gov/emploc/.

To get more information on the laws the Wage and Hour Division enforces, go to its home page or call the DOL's toll-free help line at 1-866-4USWAGE (1-866-487-9243).

###