--- title: Your Employer Might Owe You Money — Here's How to Find Out description: The Department of Labor just sent a reminder on social media about "Workers Owed Wages," an online tool to help you get pay owed to you. authors: - name: Pete Grieve role: Lead News Reporter url: https://money.com/author/pete-grieve/ bio: Pete Grieve is a personal finance reporter. In his time at Money, Pete has covered everything from car buying to credit cards to the housing market. education: University of Chicago, BA Political Science at_money_since: 2022 articles: 602 covers: - Career Advice - Banking - Business - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes social: - https://twitter.com/pete_grieve - https://linkedin.com/in/pete-grieve-b5aa02138 - https://www.facebook.com/petegrieve4 editors: - name: Brad Tuttle role: Senior Editor url: https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/ bio: Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals. education: Columbia University School of Journalism, MS at_money_since: 2014 articles: 366 covers: - Career Advice - Banking - Business - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle - https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225 former_staff: true published: '2024-03-18T11:00:26.000Z' modified: '2025-04-15T23:07:28.000Z' section: Career Advice tags: - News word_count: 433 canonical: https://money.com/workers-owed-wages-get-back-pay/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Photo Illustration of two giant hands transferring coins from one hand to the next, with two people working on a computer sitting on top](https://img.money.com/2024/03/News-Employer-Might-Owe-You1.jpg) Does your company owe you back wages? A government agency just sent out a reminder on social media about an online resource you can use to see if an employer owes you money. The Department of Labor’s [Workers Owed Wages tool](https://webapps.dol.gov/wow) lets you look up the name of an employer to see if it owes back wages to employees. Last fiscal year, the system helped send $26.9 million to workers. The department’s Wage and Hour division is responsible for enforcing federal labor laws, and its investigations can result in workers’ being owed money for employer violations. For example, an employer can be required to pay back wages if it wasn't properly compensating employees for overtime hours. ## If you owe over $10,000 in debt, a Debt Relief Program may be able to help get you back on your feet more quickly. ### Select your state to begin applying for Accredited's debt relief program. [Get Started](https://money.com/pr/u3792545ce33?ap_referrer=%2Fworkers-owed-wages-get-back-pay%2F) While the Department of Labor says it works hard to try to contact people who are owed money, there are instances when it’s unable to locate an individual. In one of the largest recent cases, Philadelphia-based company U.S. Medical Staffing was ordered to pay more than $9 million in back wages and damages to about 1,700 workers. (That judgement came out in 2022, but employees were still owed over $2.7 million as of December, according to *[USA Today](https://www.usatoday.com/story/01/06/companies-pay-wage-theft-resolution/72112911007/)*.) The department will hold unclaimed funds for three years, but after that it sends the money to the U.S. Treasury. Anyone who suspects that a current or former employer owes them money is encouraged to use the search tool. Doing a search only takes a few moments, and it can be worthwhile. Last year, the average amount disbursed to workers owed back wages was about $1,300. ## How to find back wages and unclaimed money The Department of Labor's online tool is simple to use: First, enter your employer's name to see if it show up in the database. If it does, enter your name to check if you’re owed back wages. Lastly, follow the remaining instructions and send any necessary documents to finalize your claim. If you have trouble locating unpaid wages, you can call the Wage and Hour division at 1-866-487-9243 for assistance. The Workers Owed Wages tool isn’t the only government website that can help you find money under your name. You can continue your search for unclaimed funds using the [Treasury Hunt search tool](https://www.treasurydirect.gov/savings-bonds/treasury-hunt/), which can locate unpaid Treasury Securities and missing interest. You can also search state treasury websites to see if they have any unclaimed assets that you can claim. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/workers-owed-wages-get-back-pay/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Career Advice", "item": "https://money.com/career-advice/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Salaries and Wages", "item": "https://money.com/salaries-and-wages/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Your Employer Might Owe You Money — Here's How to Find Out" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/workers-owed-wages-get-back-pay/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/workers-owed-wages-get-back-pay/", "name": "Your Employer Might Owe You Money — Here's How to Find Out", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2024-03-18T11:00:26.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/workers-owed-wages-get-back-pay/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/workers-owed-wages-get-back-pay/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2025-04-15T23:07:28.000Z" }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "Your Employer Might Owe You Money — Here's How to Find Out", "articleSection": "Career Advice", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2024/03/News-Employer-Might-Owe-You1.jpg", "width": 2988, "height": 1992, "caption": "News-Employer-Might-Owe-You" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Pete Grieve", "url": "https://money.com/author/pete-grieve/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/pete-grieve/#author", "description": "Pete Grieve is a personal finance reporter. 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