Back pay often goes unclaimed in wage cases
In the 18 months since Chickie's & Pete's owner agreed to pay $6.84 million in back wages and damages to workers at the popular chain of sports bars, most of them have received what was owed to them.
In the 18 months since Chickie's & Pete's owner agreed to pay $6.84 million in back wages and damages to workers at the popular chain of sports bars, most of them have received what was owed to them.
Owner Peter Ciarrocchi Jr., accused of improperly paying his tipped employees, admitted no wrongdoing while paying the money to the U.S. Department of Labor, which, in turn, paid the 1,159 servers and bartenders.
But it can't find about 100 of them, and that scenario is not uncommon in the aftermath of wage and hour investigations by the department.
People move, situations change, and the dollars go unclaimed, said spokeswoman Lenore Uddyback-Fortson.
Nearly 18,000 employees in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware have back wages waiting for them in federal coffers.
"One of our top priorities is to ensure that money that we collect rightfully and expeditiously gets paid to the workers who earned it," Uddyback-Fortson said. "It belongs to them."
Uddyback-Fortson and her colleagues are working to promote a Labor Department website, "Workers Owed Wages" (WOW) - http://webapps.dol.gov/wow - that allows workers to check whether they are owed money from a case.
The site can also be accessed in Spanish.
"If they earn an honest day's wage, they should be paid that money," Uddyback-Fortson said. "To have this money not paid to them is a travesty."
Workers can enter the name of the company - probably entering a word or two is the best strategy - and related names will come up. After selecting the company, they can submit their name to see whether money is owed and how to collect it.
In Pennsylvania, unclaimed wages through the U.S. Labor Department total $1.78 million for 7,961 workers. In New Jersey, wages total $7.16 million for 9,953 workers, and in Delaware, 50 workers are owed $17,638.
Among those owed money in New Jersey are former employees of Raceway Petroleum gas stations who worked during unpaid breaks.
Also owed money in New Jersey are some of the 1,720 employees hired through a temporary agency and improperly paid for storing packaged fruits and vegetables at Lucca Freezer & Cold Storage Inc. in Vineland.
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@JaneVonBergen