SPRINGFIELD – Illinois workers can now search State Treasurer Michael Frerichs’ I-CASH website to see if unpaid wages and penalties pursued and collected by the Illinois Department of Labor are waiting for them to claim.
The addition of recovered wages to Treasurer Frerichs’ missing money site is the result of a change in the law that State Sen. Robert Peters and State Rep. Marcus C. Evans Jr. shepherded through the General Assembly last year.
The Illinois Department of Labor (IDOL) investigates wage theft and recovers back wages when it finds that an employer has underpaid workers in violation of state law. Workers don’t always know they have money coming their way, however.
Wage theft investigations take time, and sometimes a worker may move or change phone numbers by the time back wages have been collected, making them hard to locate. In other instances, IDOL may have conducted a worksite-wide audit and uncovered wage underpayments for workers who were not aware of the investigation at all.
The change in state law extended the time for wage recovery to three years to give the Illinois Department of Labor more time to search for and locate employees who are owed back wages. The law also ensured that after three years, IDOL can send unclaimed wages to Treasurer Frerichs’ Unclaimed Property Trust Fund, so that workers can still claim their money.
In recent months, the Illinois Department of Labor has started to send recovered unpaid wages to the State Treasurer’s Office, which has added the names to the I-CASH site. So far, unpaid wages for 25 people have been added to the unclaimed property database. Workers can go to icash.illinoistreasurer.gov in the coming months to see if back wages are waiting for them to claim.
In addition, the change in state law sets aside some funding for the Illinois Department of Labor to support worker outreach and education regarding the recovery of unpaid wages.
“Hard-working people in Illinois deserve to be paid for their labor,” Treasurer Frerichs said. “We are thankful to team up with the Illinois Department of Labor, Sen. Peters, and Rep. Evans on a common-sense solution.”
“Ensuring workers are paid what they’re owed is at the core of the Illinois Department of Labor’s mission,” said Illinois Department of Labor Director Jane Flanagan. “These updates to the law not only extend the timeframe during which the Department can try to locate a worker who is owed unpaid wages, they also provide workers with a new tool to track down money that may be owed to them. We truly appreciate the partnership of the General Assembly and Treasurer Frerichs as we all strive to better serve Illinois workers.”
Sen. Peters and Rep. Evans applauded the law’s changes.
“Let’s be clear: Wage theft is theft. It’s in fact the leading form of theft,” said Peters (D-Chicago). “People deserve as much time as possible to recover their unpaid wages.”
“People who work and have wages unfairly withheld from them now have better recourse,” said Evans (D-Chicago), the assistant House Majority Leader. “Working together to help people is what drives us in Springfield.”