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Workers and advocates press for 45 wage‑and‑hour investigators; audit shows backlog
Summary
Dozens of workers, unions and community organizations urged the Labor Committee to fund more wage-and-hour investigators (HB 6843), citing a multi-month backlog, recurring large-scale wage-theft cases and millions recovered in past years.
Hartford — Unions, worker centers and dozens of affected workers told the Labor and Public Employees Committee that Connecticut’s Wage and Workplace Standards Division is understaffed and cannot investigate the volume of wage-theft claims that reach the department.
Union representatives, community‑based organizers and several workers gave firsthand testimony about cases that took months or years to resolve, citing a state auditors’ report that found large backlogs and long waits for case assignment. “Workers file complaints and then wait months without resolution,” said Ed Hawthorne of the Connecticut AFL‑CIO.
Why it matters: Wage theft — unpaid minimum wage, unpaid overtime, unpaid tips and misclassification — reduces worker incomes, depresses local spending and gives unscrupulous employers an unfair price advantage. Witnesses and documents cited during the hearing show that more…
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