Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

Printer-Friendly Version

2002 Statistics Fact Sheet

[Press Release]

Wage and Hour Division Enforcement in Fiscal Year 2002 at Ten-Year High

The Employment Standards Administration’s Wage and Hour Division recovered more than $175 million in back wages in fiscal year 2002 – a 33 percent increase over fiscal year 2001 and the largest amount collected in the last ten years. The number of workers receiving back wages increased over 21 percent. The agency completed 40,264 compliance actions in fiscal year 2002, a 6 percent increase over the 38,051 completed actions in fiscal year 2001. For the first time since 1992, the Wage and Hour Division also saw an increase in total enforcement hours logged by agency employees.

Back Wages for Fair Labor Standards Act Violations Increased by 29%

In fiscal year 2002, the Wage and Hour Division collected almost $143 million in back wages for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act, an almost 29 percent increase over the $111 million collected in FY 2001. Employees who received back wages similarly increased by almost 24 percent. FLSA cases represent about 83 percent of all cases handled by the agency in a fiscal year. This fiscal year about 70 percent of the FLSA cases had monetary violations, slightly higher than the 66 percent of monetary violation cases in fiscal year 2001.

Back Wages for Garment, Agriculture and Health Care Employees Increased

The Wage and Hour Division continues to pursue targeted enforcement in low-wage industries with vulnerable, and often immigrant, workforces and a history of chronic violations. In fiscal year 2002, the agency set national priorities and goals in the garment, agriculture and health care industries. Although the number of concluded cases declined, the back wages collected by the agency in these industries increased substantially. The Wage and Hour Division collected almost $6 million in back wages for garment workers in fiscal year 2002 – a 27.3 percent increase over the $4.7 million collected in fiscal year 2001. In addition, garment workers receiving back wages in fiscal year 2002 increased by 51 percent. The back wages collected for agriculture employees increased by 30 percent, from almost $1.7 million in fiscal year 2001 to almost $2.2 million in fiscal year 2002. Finally, although back wages collected for health care workers increased only 3.5 percent in fiscal year 2002, the number of health care employees receiving back wages increased by 20.5 percent.

Child Labor Investigations Increase

In fiscal year 2002, the Wage and Hour Division also continued to pursue targeted enforcement of the child labor provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. As a result of these efforts, the agency increased targeted child labor investigations by 4 percent. However, the number of child labor violations found in fiscal year 2002 decreased by 8 percent from fiscal year 2001. Similarly, the number of Hazardous Occupation (HO) violations declined by 15 percent, and the number of minors found illegally employed decreased by 2 percent.

Family and Medical Leave Act Enforcement Increased

The Wage and Hour Division found over $3.7 million in back wages for violations of the Family and Medical Leave Act in fiscal year 2002, a 25% increase over the $3 million found for FMLA violations in fiscal year 2001. The number of FMLA complaint investigations concluded and the number of violations found also increased in fiscal year 2002. Termination of employees seeking FMLA leave continues to be the primary reason that employees file a complaint with the agency.

Wage and Hour Division 2002 Regional Statistics

WHD Northeast Region

WHD Southeast Region

WHD Midwest Region

WHD Southwest Region

WHD Western Region

¹ Concluded cases include cases initiated as a result of a complaint and self-directed cases initiated by the agency. About 74 percent of all concluded cases in fiscal year 2002 were based on a complaint. This is slightly higher than the 69 percent in fiscal year 2001.