Virginia Department of Labor and Industry (DOLI) Wage Claim Data

The raw data is stored in lajc_wage_claim.csv. It contains 3,948 rows -- each row is one Payment of Wage Claim, an official complaint that a worker in Virginia can issue to the DOLI if they believe their employer has illegally withheld their wages. See (https://www.doli.virginia.gov/labor-law/payment-of-wage-english/) for more information about issuing a wage-claim. The data contains information regarding who each claim is made against, the amount of the claim, whether DOLI opened an investiagtion, and if so, whether they were able to return any wages to the complainant and how much.

Key variables are bolded in the following table.

Prior to posting the raw data on GitHub we edited it to

• Remove the name, address, state, and ZIP code of the people who issued the complaints

• Add variables that make informed guesses about the gender of each complainant, as well as whether or not each complainant is likely to be Hispanic or Asian

The following table describes each variable in the raw data:

Variable	Description	Values	Notes
0 CLAIM NO	A unique ID for each official wage-theft complaint issued to the DOLI
1 COMPLAINT	Whether or not this row represents an official complaint	X if yes	All rows are complaints, so safe to ignore this variable
2 ROUTINE			Missing everywhere, safe to ignore
3 EMPLOYER NAME	The name of the employer against whom the wage-theft complaint is made	Character
4 EMPLOYER CITY	The employer's city	Character
5 ST	The employer's state	Character
6 ZIP	The employer's ZIP code	Character
7 gender	The predicted gender of the person issuing the complaint based on first name	Factor: (male, female)	Gender is not included in the original data, but the complainants' names are. We used the gender_df() function in the gender package for R to predict gender from the complainants' first names. This variable is missing if the first name is unusual and gender_df() is unable to generate a prediction
8 hispanic	Whether the complainant is predicted to be Hispanic based on the last name	Logical: (TRUE, FALSE)	Race/Ethnicity is not included in the original data. We predicted the race/ethnicity of each complainant from the person's last name using the predict_race() function in the wru package in R.
9 asian	Whether the complainant is predicted to be Asian based on the last name	Logical: (TRUE, FALSE)	See above
10 COMPLAINANT CITY	The city of the person issuing the complaint of wage theft	Character
11 ST_1	The state in which the person issuing the complaint of wage theft resides	Character
12 ZIP_1	The zipcode of the person issuing the complaint of wage theft	Character
13 CLAIM AMT	The amount of money claimed to have been illegally withheld	Character (but easily converted to numeric)
14 CASE OPEN/RE-OPEN	The date the case was opened	Character
15 CLAIM RECEIVED	The date the claim was received by DOLI	Character
16 Valid	Whether the claim was deemed by DOLI to be valid	Character: X if valid, missing if not
17 Informal Resolution	Whether an informal resolution between the employer and complainantthe claim was attempted	Character: X if true, missing if false
18 Bankrupt	Whether the claim is being made against a bankrupt employer	Character: X if true, missing if false	This is one of the reasons DOLI as outside their jurisdiction (https://www.doli.virginia.gov/labor-law/payment-of-wage-english/)
19 Invalid	Whether DOLI disqualified the claim for one of the following reasons:	Character: X if true, missing if false
20 Fringe Benefits	Whether DOLI disqualified the claim because it deals with contractual payments beyond a base salary	Character: X if true, missing if false	This is one of the reasons DOLI as outside their jurisdiction (https://www.doli.virginia.gov/labor-law/payment-of-wage-english/)
21 Independent Agent	Whether DOLI disqualified the claim because it involves a contract worker instead of a direct employee	Character: X if true, missing if false	This is one of the reasons DOLI as outside their jurisdiction (https://www.doli.virginia.gov/labor-law/payment-of-wage-english/)
22 Subcontractor	Whether DOLI disqualified the claim because it involves a subcontract worker instead of a direct employee	Character: X if true, missing if false	This is one of the reasons DOLI as outside their jurisdiction (https://www.doli.virginia.gov/labor-law/payment-of-wage-english/)
23 False Claim	Whether DOLI determined that the claim is false	Character: X if true, missing if false
24 Other	Whether DOLI determined that the claim is invalid for another reason	Character: X if true, missing if false	This is one of the reasons DOLI as outside their jurisdiction (https://www.doli.virginia.gov/labor-law/payment-of-wage-english/)
25 CLAIM INVAL OTHER DESCRIPTION	The stated reason DOLI found a claim invalid if "other"	Character
26 Claim Validity	Whether an undetermined claim is valid	Character: X if true, missing if false	An “invalid” claim is one where the investigator can dismiss it by just looking at the claim form. (E.g., the worker said “I am an independent contractor” or left some critical part of the form blank). A claim whose validity is “undetermined” means this: if everything the worker says on the claim form turned out to be true, the claim would be valid. But after investigating, DOLI believes that there is not enough evidence to determine whether everything the worker says on the claim form is in fact true (i.e., DOLI believes that the worker hasn’t met their burden of proof on some critical part of the claim).
27 Employer left State	Whether a claim is undetermined because the employer left the state	Character: X if true, missing if false	See above
28 Employer Cannot be Located	Whether a claim is undetermined because the employer cannot be located	Character: X if true, missing if false	See above
29 Complainant Cannot be Located	Whether a claim is undetermined because the complainant cannot be located	Character: X if true, missing if false	See above
30 Complainant Dropped Claim	Whether a claim is undetermined because the complainant dropped the claim	Character: X if true, missing if false	See above
31 Paid Prior to Investigation	Whether a claim is undetermined because the employer paid the lost wages prior to the DOLI investigation	Character: X if true, missing if false	See above
32 Business is Closed	Whether a claim is undetermined because the employer's business has closed	Character: X if true, missing if false	See above
33 Other_1	Whether a claim is undetermined for another reason	Character: X if true, missing if false	See above
34 CLAIM UNDETERMINED OTHER DESCRIPTION	The stated reason for being undetermined if "other"	Character
35 VERIFIED CLAIM AMT	The total amount claimed after verification by DOLI	Character (but easily converted to numeric)
36 CASE CLOSE/RECLOSE DATE	Date case was officially closed	Character
37 Employer Contested Valid Determination	Whether the employer contested a claim that was found to be valid	Character: X if true, missing if false
38 1st Response Investigation	Whether only a 1st response was conducted	Character: X if true, missing if false	DOLI conducts a quick "1st response" investigation first to determine if a formal investigation is warranted
39 Formal Investigation	Whether a formal investigation was conducted	Character: X if true, missing if false
40 Request Settlement Conference		All missing	No such requests in the data
41 Request Informal Fact Finding		All missing	No such requests in the data
42 Request Formal Fact Finding		All missing	No such requests in the data
43 Wage Order	Whether a legal order is given for the employer to pay lost wages	Character: X if true, missing if false	See page 10, G(1): (http://townhall.virginia.gov/L/GetFile.cfm?File=C:%5CTownHall%5Cdocroot%5CGuidanceDocs%5C181%5CGDoc_DOLI_1780_v5.pdf)
44 Informal Conference		All missing	No such actions in the data
45 Civil Action for Wages/Penalties		All missing	No such actions in the data
46 Other_2		All missing	No such actions in the data
47 OTHER DISPOSITION DESCRIPTION		All missing
48 CASE CLOSED for the REPRESENTATIVE	Date the DOLI labor law representative ended the investigation	Character
49 JUDGMENT		All missing
50 DISMISSED		All missing
51 NON-SUITED		All missing
52 JUDGMENT_1		All missing
53 DISMISSED_1		All missing
54 NON-SUITED_1		All missing
55 CIVCOURTDTE FOR WAGES/PENALTY		All missing
56 TOT AMT	Total amount recovered for the complainant	Character (but easily converted to numeric)	These columns show the cases where DOLI is successful in collecting wages
57 WAGE AMT	Amount recovered in lost wages for the complainant	Character (but easily converted to numeric)
58 INTEREST AMT	Amount recovered in interest on lost wages for the complainant	Character (but easily converted to numeric)
59 ATTY FEES	Amount recovered in reimbursed attorney fees for the complainant	Character (but easily converted to numeric)
60 DATE FOR WAGES	Date wages were returned to the complainant	Character
61 WAGES APPEALED		All missing
62 WAGES APPEAL CIRCUIT COURT DATE		All missing
63 ASSESSED	Whether the DOLI investigation concludes the employer owes a civil monetary penalty	Character: X if true, missing if false	A civil monentary penalty (CMP) is a fine an employer must pay as punishment for wage-theft, in addition to paying back wages and fees
64 AMT	Amount of the CMP owed by the employer	Character (but easily converted to numeric)	See above
65 ATTY FEES_1	Attorney fees owed by the employer as part of the CMP	Character (but easily converted to numeric)	See above
66 ASSESSED DATE	Date CMP totals were assessed	Character	See above
67 TOTAL CMP AMT	CMP + attorney fees	Character (but easily converted to numeric)	See above
68 CMP APPEALED		All missing	See above
69 CMP APPEAL CIRCUIT COURT DATE		All missing	See above
70 FINES & COURT COSTS	Other fines and court costs associated with the CMP	Character (but easily converted to numeric)	See above
71 TOTAL WAGES	Total wages that the DOLI says have been actually collected	Character (but easily converted to numeric)	We're not sure what to make of these "collection" variables at this point. After a legal order for an employer to repay wages, the case is referred to a collection agency or to an attorney in charge of collection. These values indicate the amount that has been collected. It includes amounts that have been legally ordered, and amounts that were settled upon in civil court or outside DOLI jurisdiction.
72 TOTAL INTEREST AMT	Total interest collected	Character (but easily converted to numeric)	See above
73 TOT WAGES & INTEREST	Wages + interest collected	Character (but easily converted to numeric)	See above
74 GARNISHED AMT		All $0
75 JUDGMENT WAGE AMT	We think these are additional fees for repeat offenders	Character (but easily converted to numeric)
76 JUDGEMENT PENALTY AMT	We think these are additional fees for repeat offenders	Character (but easily converted to numeric)
77 DOCKETED/SENT FOR COLLECTION DATE		All missing
78 ACTION TAKEN		All missing
79 COURT DATE		All missing
80 CONVICTED - DISPOSITION		All missing
81 DISMISSED - DISPOSITION		All missing
82 NOL Prossed		All missing
83 CONFINEMENT		All missing
84 SUSPENSION		All missing
85 BOTH - C&F		All missing
86 JUDGMENT_2		All missing
87 DISMISSED_2		All missing
88 NON-SUITED_2		All missing
89 JUDGMENT_3		All missing
90 DISMISSED_3		All missing
91 NON-SUITED_3		All missing