An analysis of U.S. Labor Department data by financial education organization Goat Academy finds Maryland leads the nation in the average wages stolen from workers.
Maryland led all 50 states in the average amount of wages owed to employees, at more than $2,200. Bay State neighbors Delaware and Virginia trailed Maryland with the second and third highest averages.
Amy Gellatly, an attorney in the Workplace Justice Project at the Public Justice Center, said those figures may just be the tip of the iceberg.
"There's so many structural barriers to get a worker to the point where they feel confident that they know their rights are being violated," she said. "They decide they want to do something about it; they know where to go."
Gellatly added that workers in certain industries historically have issues with wage theft, including those in construction, home care, cleaning services, food services and retail.
Misclassification, Gellatly said, is also a major issue in wage theft, when an employer classifies an employee as an independent contractor. Independent contractors don't receive the same benefits as an employee, such as unemployment insurance or workers compensation if injured on the job.
Gellatly said Maryland could, like other states, pass a law that a person who does work for another is considered an employee, not a contractor. She added that people could be considered contractors if they are really in business for themselves -- and setting the conditions of their labor.
"What we're seeing across the country is like the 'gigafication' of work," she said. "So, you have the entity that really is in control of setting the terms and conditions of a person's employment, but they won't directly hire the worker, as a way to try to separate themselves from responsibility and then turn a blind eye."
In total, more than $128 million in back wages are owed to U.S. employees.
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Conservation advocates say the Trump administration's firing of probationary U.S. Forest Service workers in New Mexico and other Western states could ruin summer vacations - and even prove life-threatening.
The Forest Service has not commented, but Gila National Forest workers told the Silver City Daily Press that at least 13 employees of the trails and recreation crew lost their jobs.
Aaron Weiss, deputy director with the Center for Western Priorities, said those employees terminated are people we've come to depend on.
"They're the ones leading the tours, they're the one answering questions in the visitor center, they're the ones cleaning trails," said Weiss. "So in some cases here, you're talking literally about the folks who make sure you have a safe, sanitary, clean family vacation."
A former employee told the Daily Press that the firings affected the forest's "13/13" crew - permanent seasonal employees who work six months a year.
The firings are part of a massive federal workforce reduction by Donald Trump and Elon Musk, head of the newly-formed advisory group - the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
The Gila National Forest and Gila Wilderness encompass some 600,000 acres and draw thousands of tourists each year. They've also been the site of recent fires, which Weiss said worried him.
"February is prime season for hiring wildland firefighters for the upcoming fire season, and for doing controlled burns and wildfire prevention work," said Weiss. "If you're not doing those controlled burns now, you are leaving more fuel on the ground that will burn this summer."
New Mexico's Democratic congressional delegation released information showing the state has about 2,200 federal employees in probationary periods in the Forest Service, Veterans Health Administration, Bureau of Land Management, and the FBI.
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New legislation that would ensure every Oregon public school student has access to free breakfast and lunch has widespread, bipartisan support.
A recent poll shows more than 80% of Oregon voters support the bill. Currently, 1 in 6 children in Oregon is facing hunger and food insecurity.
Auveen S. is a junior at Lake Oswego High School and a youth advisory leader with the School Meals for All Coalition.
She said while her school doesn't qualify for universal school meals, she still notices that some of her classmates might not have enough food during the day.
"And as a student, I know firsthand how important food is to academic success," she said. "No one can learn on an empty stomach and it's difficult to focus when your stomach is growling."
While most public schools in Oregon already provide free breakfast and lunch to all students, the bill would extend those meals to tens of thousands who still go without.
David Wieland, a policy advocate with Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon, said the program especially benefits low-income students who can face stigma and bullying for receiving free meals.
He pointed to research showing that when meals are free for all students, suspension rates drop.
Wieland added that this bill is the conclusion of decades of advocacy work, and the funds are already in place to make it happen.
"We're not going to say that kids have to pay for their textbooks or have to pay to take the bus," said Wieland. "Why would we do the same with the basic food that they need to function during the school day?"
Data from Oregon State University shows that hunger rates in the state have risen significantly in recent years, with an additional 65,000 people facing food insecurity each year.
The data also shows that communities of color in Oregon experience hunger at twice the rate of white residents. The coalition says School Meals for All saves families about $1,400 annually per student.
The bill is currently in the Oregon house education committee.
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President Donald Trump has issued a flurry of executive orders meant to jump-start his mass deportation policy but the policy may negatively affect migrant farmworkers in Virginia.
Nationwide, nearly half of agricultural workers are immigrants and more than a quarter of those workers are undocumented. More than 300,000 people work in Virginia's agricultural sector, many of whom are immigrants. Numbers are not available at the state level for how many workers are undocumented.
Manuel Gago Silcox, co-director of the Virginia-based Worker Justice Program at the Legal Aid Justice Center, said Trump's policies come during a slow period in agricultural production in the Commonwealth.
"We're still not seeing a big repercussion of this," Gago Silcox pointed out. "We will know about this when the season starts, like around May, April. We'll see how this plan will be affecting farms and crops, especially in the summer, the harvesting season, when it's more labor-intensive."
Overall, 42% of farmworkers do not have an authorization to work in the country, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Gago Silcox expects applications for H2-A visas, a program for companies to hire foreign workers for agricultural jobs, to dramatically increase.
Gago Silcox added there is a lot of confusion in migrant farmworker communities about immigration raids potentially happening at workplaces. Many thought the raids were supposed to target criminals, instead of workers.
"It's at a workplace. They are people that are doing work. They are feeding their families, and they're feeding other families," Gago Silcox explained. "So they don't understand why these raids at the workplace, while people are trying to earn their basic needs, are taking place there. "
Gago Silcox noted groups are currently working to educate migrant workers about their rights and pass out red cards, which detail the constitutional rights of both citizens and noncitizens if they are approached by immigration officers.
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