The exact amount of stolen wages in Connecticut is unknown, but some insight can be gleaned from complaints filed by workers to the departments of labor at both the state and federal levels, which investigate these complaints and can order employers to pay back wages. Based on investigations of those complaints, the U.S. Department of Labor determined that Connecticut employers owed workers more than $10.3 million from January 2012 to April 2023. From 2019 through 2022, the Connecticut Department of Labor ordered employers to pay almost $17 million in stolen wages after investigations. Any wages ordered to be paid back from judgments by courts or by the National Labor Relations Board fall outside the labor departments’ figures and are hard to quantify due to how cases are recorded. And unreported wage theft could surpass all other categories. Complicating matters, the state Department of Labor says it is dealing with a critical backlog of cases. Legislation to boost staffing levels failed to pass this year.
