Augusta Wood worked in IT support under a federal contractor for the Department of Veteran Affairs in Florida for about four years. It seemed like a safe job. Instead, Wood experienced thousands of dollars in wage theft and is one of more than 40 workers for a federal contractor who have been trying since 2015 to recoup their pay. They have yet to receive any of it.
Workers say the contractor – Consultis – and government agencies have deflected responsibility to one another for over $500,000 in back pay owed to workers for this contract alone.
‘I have not seen one cent’: billions stolen in wage theft from US workers
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“I ended up with over $42,000 in wage loss,” said Wood. “Despite the Department of Labor ruling in our favor, we didn’t get the money.”
Wood said the hardship that followed the wage theft pushed her and her partner to leave Florida, where her family had lived for generations. “I sold my car. We left our families. We ended up moving to Colorado,” Wood said.
Wage theft of workers employed by federal contractors under the Service Contract Act is not uncommon. In 2021, the US Department of Labor’s wage and hour division recovered more than $48m in back wages owed to more than 21,000 workers on federal contracts. Federal contractors found to have conducted wage theft are supposed to be excluded from receiving new contracts for three years but enforcement is lax, according to a government survey.
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