Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis is hiring 250 more federal wage and hour investigators

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/sixel/6553948.html

Working
Labor steps up fight against wage violations
By L.M. SIXEL Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
July 29, 2009, 10:33PM

Low-wage workers weren't the only winners last week when the minimum wage increased to $7.25 an hour. Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis also announced the agency is hiring 250 more federal wage and hour investigators.

It's welcome news to the thousands of workers cheated out of minimum wage and overtime pay each year.

Currently, the agency has about 650 investigators, but even with the increase, Solis said the agency is barely getting back to its 2001 staffing levels.

She's also hoping the new investigators will resolve the backlog and other problems highlighted by the Government Accountability Office.

After finding last year that investigators at the Wage and Hour Division often failed to investigate complaints, the GAO launched an undercover operation. Posing as workers in Texas and other states who hadn't been paid properly, the investigators filed 10 common complaints.

In several instances, no wage and hour inquiries were ever launched while others were delayed for months, according to the report that was released in March. And when an investigation was begun, it was often done inadequately with investigators closing claims based on unverified employer information or dropping complaints if employers did not call back.

FULL story at link.

[waiting for hope]

1. This is so sad -

"Solis said the agency is barely getting back to its 2001 staffing levels."

K&R