BETHESDA, Md. – A new study finds that Maryland ranks as the worst offending wage theft state in the US. 

Financial education community, Goat Academy, analyzed data from the US Department of Labor to find the states with the worst wage theft violations and calculated the back wages owed per affected employee to reveal the ranking. 

Maryland has the most significant wage theft violations with $2,221 of back wages per employee on average. Virginia places third after Delaware with $1,680. 

“Wage theft in the United States is an economic injustice and silent epidemic” said Felix Prehn, a spokesperson from Goat Academy. 

What is wage theft?

Wage theft occurs when employees don’t receive the benefits they have earned. It is common and it comes in different forms.Some examples include:

• Paying less than minimum wage
• Unpaid work
• Having short or no lunch breaks

Wage theft is common because employees are not aware of what it is. Saba Waheed, the research director at UCLA’s Labor Center, says “We don’t do labor training in our schools,” and that is why millions of people are victims of it without knowing. 

Why is Maryland number one in wage theft? 

Companies in Maryland have committed a total of 12,639 wage theft violations since 2021. 2,020 employees are owed a total of $4,486,871 back wages. 

Back in 2023 many state employees claimed they were not getting paid for the hours they worked. Others claimed that their overtime had been rounded off and did not receive the extra minutes in their final paycheck. The governor authorized more than $9 million for correctional employees in an expanded settlement over these claims.

Who can file a wage claim? 

According to the Maryland Department of Labor any Maryland employee who believes an employer had unlawfully withheld their wages, bonus, overtime wages, or other payment benefits may file a claim for unpaid wages.