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Maryland
Maryland workers are owed more than $6.8M. Do you qualify?
About 5,200 Marylanders are owed a total of more than $6.8 million in unpaid wages, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
Over the last few years, the Department of Labor has “recovered millions” of dollars owed to workers across the country, said Linamarie Martinez, an assistant district director in Maryland.
The money comes from federal investigations and enforcement into workplaces and employers who are not properly paying employees.
Anyone can use the department’s “Workers Owed Wages” or “WOW” tool online to see if the department has money that they’re owed. The tool searches by employer, and then after a worker verifies their name and submits contact information, they can fill out a claim form.
In most cases, a worker will receive a check for earned wages in about six weeks, Martinez said. The money is taxed.
Martinez said that sometimes, when employers are ordered to give back pay, they are unable to find former employees. In those situations, the money sits with the Department of Labor for three years. After that, though, the money is sent to the U.S. Treasury.
That’s why it’s important people check to see if they’re owed anything, Martinez said.
“We have these monies waiting on their behalf,” she said.
In Maryland, there are 5,243 workers owed a total of $6,811,280 in recovered wages. The national labor department’s Wage and Hour Division has recovered more than $1 billion in back wages and damages overall during the Biden administration.
That created “justice and economic relief for more than 615,000 workers,” acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su said in an October statement.
Police said Dequan Gravely, 23, of Charles County, was driving northbound on Route 210 near Pine Drive when his Mercedes collided with the school bus turning left from the southbound lanes.
The driver of a car involved in a crash with a Prince George’s County school bus in Accokeek, Maryland, on Friday has been identified.
Prince George’s County police said Dequan Gravely, 23, of Bryans Road in Charles County, was driving northbound on Route 210 near Pine Drive around 7:20 a.m. when his Mercedes collided with the school bus turning left from the southbound lanes.
Investigators said the crash happened in the intersection, causing the school bus to flip onto its side. Gravely died at the scene.
The school bus driver was transported to a hospital and treated for injuries that were not considered life-threatening. Police said no students were on the bus at the time of the crash.
Investigators said they believe debris from the collision damaged a third vehicle. The driver of that vehicle “declined medical attention,” police said.
The Prince George’s County Police Department’s Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Unit is investigating. Anyone with information is asked to contact investigators at 301-731-4422.
WTOP’s Acacia James contributed to this report.
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A D.C. man won $5 million from a scratch-off lottery ticket in Maryland last week, and the matching number that netted him the prize happened to be his age.
Talk about a birthday surprise! A D.C. man won $5 million from a scratch-off lottery ticket in Maryland last week, and the matching number that netted him the prize happened to be his age.
Maurice Williams, a school bus driver in D.C., claimed the first top prize on a $5,000,000 LUXE scratch-off. He had used his $50 winnings from a previous LUXE scratch-off ticket to buy a new one the next day.
In a release from the Maryland Lottery, Williams said he didn’t know he had won until he scanned the ticket: “It’s crazy because the matching number was 59 and I just turned 59 the other day.”
Williams said he sat in shock for a while before calling his mother.
He said he plans to buy his mother a house with the winnings and then save up.
Two more top prizes from the scratch-off have yet to be claimed, the Maryland Lottery said, as well as nine $200,000 prizes, 10 $50,000 prizes and thousands of prizes ranging from $50 to $10,000.
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© 2026 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
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