SOLIS PLEDGES TO BOLSTER WAGE ENFORCEMENT

An investigation by a government watchdog concludes that the division of the Labor Department responsible for enforcing pay laws often ignores complaints and fails to make companies restore improperly withheld wages.

The Government Accountability Office report, which was released at a March 25 hearing of the House Education and Labor Committee, is based in part on an undercover operation.

The GAO submitted 1 0 common but fictitious complaints to Wage and Hour Division field offices and also reviewed 20 real cases affecting 1 , 1 60 workers. The GAO is the investigative arm of Congress.

It found that the Wage and Hour Division failed to address or adequately investigate alleged minimum-wage and overtime violations and charges that a worker had not received a final paycheck. Child-labor violations also were ignored.

Calls often rolled over to voice mail and were never returned. In one case study, a company agreed to $66,000 in overtime back pay to 2 1 employees but then stopped responding to the wage division. After more than a year, the agency dropped its action against the company.