Daywatch: $4.2 million in unpaid wages

Good morning, Chicago.

More than 5,500 Illinois workers owed back pay totaling more than $4.2 million can claim their unpaid wages online, the U.S. Department of Labor said yesterday.

The funds are the result of investigations by the department’s wage and hour division, which recovers back pay for workers when they are underpaid in violation of laws, including minimum wage and overtime laws.

“Among the division’s top priorities is putting wages recovered by its investigations swiftly into the hands of people who earned them,” the department said in a news release.

Illinois workers can find out if they are owed back pay by searching for an employer or former employer’s name on the department’s “Workers Owed Wages” or WOW search tool online, which is available in English and Spanish.

Read the full story from the Tribune’s Talia Soglin.

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Suspect Luigi Mangione is taken into the Blair County Courthouse on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024, in Hollidaysburg, Pa. (Benjamin B. Braun/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP)

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The Walgreens store at 3646 N. Broadway in Chicago on Nov. 28, 2024. The Wall Street Journal reported that Walgreens Boots Alliance is considering selling the company to a private equity firm. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)
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