NMDWS continues co-enforcement of wage and hour cases with USDOL
For Immediate Release
April 13, 2021
Contact: Stacy Johnston
Acting Public Information Officer
505.250.3926
NMDWS continues co-enforcement of wage and hour cases with USDOL
(Albuquerque, NM) – The New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions (NMDWS) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) in February of 2020 to better protect New Mexico’s workers and through this co-enforcement recently led to collecting over $50,000 from a restaurant chain for 18 individual workers.
The combined efforts of both federal and state have proven to make a strong united impact for New Mexico’s workforce through the enforcement of wage laws and ensuring employers understand and follow those laws.
"A fair days' work deserves a fair days' pay. I am very proud of the NMDWS staff who have worked tirelessly to reduce our wage theft complaint backlog and get workers the money they've earned. " said Bill McCamley, NMDWS Cabinet Secretary. "We'll continue to make wage enforcement a priority, and won't rest until Gov. Lujan Grisham's vision for a state where every worker is paid what they are owed becomes a reality."
USDOL is currently investigating 47 cases originally filed with NMDWS. Since July 2020, NMDWS’s Wage and Hour Bureau has closed 676 cases and collected over $496,000 for workers who were not paid the fair wages they earned.
NMDWS Labor Relations Division (LRD) enforces payment of wages, minimum wage, and overtime labor laws under the Wage Pay Act and the Minimum Wage Act. If an employee or ex-employee was not paid wages for work performed they may file a Wage Claim form and return it to NMDWS LRD to open an investigation to determine if wages are owed.
More information on Wage and Hour and filing a wage claim can be found on the NMDWS website https://www.dws.state.nm.us/en-us/Labor-Relations/Labor-Information/Wage-and-Hour.
###