14,000 Florida employees are owed money. See if you qualify for $6.5 million in back pay

The US Department of Labor wants to find more than 14,000 Florida workers who have yet to collect more than $6.5 million in back pay from companies the department says violated wage and hour laws.

They have set up this website where anyone can see if they worked for a company that had to pay back wages but could not find the workers to pay.

If their company is listed, the employee can check to see if their name is among those owed money.

The companies could have violated any number of federal rules or laws.

“Anything from minimum wage violations, overtime violations,” said Lissette Vargas, acting district director of the department’s wage and hour division.

She said others may have been found to violate provisions involving child labor or the Family and Medical Leave Act.

Others violated a federal law requiring certain wages on federally funded construction projects, such as the visitors center in Everglades National Park.

An electrical subcontractor on that project paid more than $37,000 in back wages to eight workers, who were misclassified as ironworkers, and paid less than they should’ve received as electrical workers, the department said in a 2022 press release.

The company told NBC6 it mistakenly used an old schedule to set pay rates and corrected the issue once the department pointed it out.

Even teenagers could find their name in the database, if – as the department found with a franchisee for five Rita’s Italian Ice shops -- they worked too many hours or too late at night, violating federal law.

The manager at one of those shops declined to comment today, but the franchisee wound up paying a $15,000 penalty.

One of Florida’s largest employers, Publix, also caught the department's attention, which last year reported it illegally fired a warehouse worker who sought leave for a health condition. That resulted in more than $17,000 in back pay and medical expenses.

Publix hasn’t responded to a request for comment.

But when the employee owed money has changed jobs or otherwise can’t be found, the department holds it — but only for three years.

So, Vargas said, workers should check to see if their names are in the database.

“This program is there so they can get it within that time frame,” she said. “And right before the holidays, I can’t think of anything better to do than check to see what money might be due to somebody out there.”

She also noted people who may not have all their immigration documentation in order can still collect if they can prove their identity with something like a passport from their country of origin.