Record back-wages collections show commitment to workers

As the nation celebrates record jobs growth, record low unemployment and unprecedented opportunity for the American workforce, the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division delivered a record amount of back wages for workers the second year in a row.

The agency bested its record-setting Fiscal Year 2018 numbers and posted the most back wages ever recovered for workers in the agency's 81-year history. The division recovered more than $322 million in back wages for more than 313,000 workers — an average of more than $1,025 per employee found due. Our efforts collected more than $882,000 per day for working families across the country.

Here in Illinois, WHD's back wage collection has nearly doubled in the past three years, from $5.2 million in FY 2016 to $10.4 million this year. That's $10.4 million in back wages for workers in the Prairie State.

The Wage and Hour Division is protecting those who do the right thing. We are delivering a level playing field for employers and employees alike and steadfastly eliminating any unfair economic advantage employers may try to gain by skirting the rules. Strong enforcement is our great equalizer.

We are providing clear guidance to ease burdens on a heavily regulated workplace. We are delivering more compliance assistance and education than ever. FY 2019 saw another record surpassed when we conducted more than 3,700 educational outreach events, breaking the previous record set just last year to produce the highest number ever conducted in one year in the division's history.

The Wage and Hour Division has long understood that we best achieve compliance through a balance of rigorous enforcement and robust, modern and plain-language compliance assistance. We understand that most employers want to do the right thing — they just need to know how. We strongly prefer to help employers by ensuring they have the information they need to comply prospectively and avoid unintentional violations. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

We are delivering more by maximizing efficiency. Our constantly improving and expanding data-driven approach coupled with engagement with stakeholders allows us to improve our abilities to identify the industries and sectors where we are needed the most — directing resources to where they will do the most good and bringing the most egregious violators into compliance. I have created a new Office of Enterprise Data and Analytics that will ensure our trajectory in this space continues and that we use the most cutting-edge tools and data sources available to help us sharpen our performance and guide every decision.

All of this record-setting enforcement and educational activity moves forward against the backdrop of the agency's most ambitious ongoing regulatory agenda. We recently finished an overtime rule to make more than 1 million Americans eligible for overtime. In the coming months, we will continue to build on the administration's efforts on behalf of the American worker.

The Wage and Hour Division makes an enormous impact on the lives of working Americans and on the job creators who provide those opportunities. With a record-breaking 2019 in the books, we set our sights squarely on besting that performance once again in 2020. We will continue to deliver results for America's workers.

Cheryl M. Stanton is administrator of the United States Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division.