Mentioned 15× · first seen 02-jul-2026 · last seen 09-nov-2026

Wage Theft Prevention and Wage Recovery Act

Current understanding

To be populated as evidence accumulates.

Evidence log

2023-09-12 — Wage Theft Prevention and Wage Recovery Act: The introduced Wage Theft Prevention and Wage Recovery Act would increase penalties for noncompliant employers and strengthen workers’ ability to recover unpaid minimum wages and overtime; it remains referred to committee, with no changes to current law. (novelty: 2)
2022-10-07 — Wage Theft Prevention and Wage Recovery Act of 2022: The 2022 Wage Theft Prevention and Wage Recovery Act proposed written employment terms, regular paystubs, final wage payment within 14 days of termination, and increased civil and criminal penalties for wage theft and payroll record falsification, but advanced no further than being reported to the House calendar and was not enacted. (novelty: 2)
2022-05-10 — Wage Theft Prevention and Wage Recovery Act: The introduced Wage Theft Prevention and Wage Recovery Act would require employment disclosures and clear, regular paystubs, payment of final wages within 14 days of termination, and compliance with contractual wage rates, while increasing civil and criminal penalties for wage theft; these requirements remain proposed, not enacted. (novelty: 3)
2025-04-09 — Protecting Employees and Retirees in Business Bankruptcies Act of 2025: 2025 — Related wage-priority legislation: Protecting Employees and Retirees in Business Bankruptcies Act of 2025 would raise the Chapter 11 priority cap for unpaid employee wage and benefit claims to $20,000 and eliminate the 180-day lookback, complementing wage-recovery enforcement by improving worker recovery when employers file bankruptcy. (novelty: 3)
2025-03-06 — Guaranteeing Overtime for Truckers Act: Related FLSA overtime legislation introduced: the Guaranteeing Overtime for Truckers Act (HR1962) would remove the Motor Carrier Act exemption and extend FLSA overtime protections to interstate truck drivers, complementing broader wage-and-hour enforcement bills by expanding the covered worker population. (novelty: 2)
2026-05-15 — Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Outside Sales, and Computer Employees; Implementation of Federal Court Judgments: Related wage-and-hour regulatory context: DOL issued a final rule removing the vacated 2024 FLSA white-collar overtime exemption rule from the CFR and restoring prior regulatory text, keeping the pre-2024 EAP salary thresholds as the operative standard while wage-recovery legislation remains pending. (novelty: 2)
2026-05-27 — Department of Labor Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Annual Adjustments for 2026: Context on existing wage-and-hour enforcement: DOL’s 2026 civil monetary penalty inflation adjustment (including FLSA wage-and-hour penalties) is cancelled due to a missing October 2025 CPI-U reading, holding statutory penalty caps at 2025 levels while wage-recovery legislation is pending. (novelty: 2)
2026-07-02 — Living Wage for Federal Contractors Act: Parallel wage-floor legislation introduced: the Living Wage for Federal Contractors Act (HR9571) targets minimum compensation for federal contract workers, complementing wage-recovery enforcement bills by raising the underlying wage baseline for a specific worker population. (novelty: 2)
2025-04-07 — No Tax Breaks for Union Busting (NTBUB) Act: Related worker-protection legislation: the No Tax Breaks for Union Busting Act would deny tax deductions for employer anti-organizing expenditures, complementing wage-and-hour enforcement bills by targeting a different employer conduct area through the tax code. (novelty: 2)
2026-06-24 — Wage Theft Prevention and Wage Recovery Act: Senate companion S4919 introduced and referred to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions on 2026-06-24, complementing the House version (HR9458). (novelty: 2)
2026-06-30 — Earned Wage Access Consumer Protection Act: Parallel wage-payment legislation advancing: the Earned Wage Access Consumer Protection Act (HR9330) was ordered reported from committee 29-22, addressing pre-payday wage access rather than post-payday recovery. (novelty: 3)