On July 24, 2014, the New York Department of Labor released a mid-year update on its progress in fighting wage theft. According to the press release, between January and June 2014, investigators recovered more than $16.4 million in wages, interest and damages, which was disbursed to 21,050 workers. In the same timeframe, the DOL completed nearly 5,000 investigations—a 45 percent increase over the same period in 2013—and collected about $850,000 in penalties. The disbursements thus far have the DOL on track to surpass all prior years.
The DOL cites policy and operational improvements, including referral of cases to compliance conferences that expedite resolution, for a marked downturn in the number of pending cases overall. The DOL has reportedly completed its investigation of 74 percent of its 2014 cases and nearly all of its pre-2012 cases.
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