The state of Michigan’s Wage & Hour Division collected more than $2.3 million in unpaid wages and fringe benefits in fiscal year 2009 that were due workers in the state.

“Our collection of unpaid wages and fringe benefits for the 12 months ending September 30 totaled just over $2.3 million, which is very close to the amount collected in FY 2008,” Jack Finn, administrator of the Wage & Hour Division, noted.

Collections for the year were down by 1.6 percent from FY 2008. The number of complaints filed with the Division was also down, slipping to 5,031, a decline of 2.5 percent. During the year, Wage & Hour investigators completed 5,120 wage investigations, down slightly from the 5,189 investigations conducted in FY 2008.

Finn said his investigators completed 72 percent of their investigations within 90 days, which was virtually unchanged from the prior year. In addition, 72 percent of the cases reached “informal resolutions,” which did not require further intervention by the Division.

Finn believes the state’s high unemployment rate contributed to the small changes in the number of wage complaints and collections in FY 2009.
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