Editor's Note: The following story is true. The names of the innocent were changed. Melanie's name was not. Melanie Dalton is a Labor Relations Specialist in Region IV's Office of Labor Relations in Atlanta.

Bob (the Builder) arrived home from work. What a lousy day! August in Miami is usually hot and humid, but today was unbearable. Work dragged on. The afternoon I-95 traffic was bad, so he got home late. The home AC was broken, and someone had stolen the paper - again. A bad day all around.

Bob checked the mail only to find a letter from the IRS. "Oh no, what in the world now?" he grumbled as he went to the fridge for a cool beverage. You guessed it! Nothing in the fridge to drink! Overwhelmed, Bob opened the letter. The letter said he had been underpaid while working on a HUD construction project, "Sweaty Palms." "Jeez," he thought. He worked on that job way back in 1985. The letter said to call Melanie Dalton in Atlanta with any questions and requested him to fill out a form and send it back to HUD.

"Yeah, I bet they have money for me," he thought. "Probably twenty seven cents; big deal!" Nevertheless, he called HUD. He was sure he was wasting his hard earned money on a wild goose chase. Besides, what government employee would be on the job after 5:00pm? Surprise! Melanie was at the office (OK, she was about to leave; preparing to play in Atlanta's notorious traffic) when the phone rang. Bob asked about the back wages.

Melanie asked Bob, "Are you sitting down?" "No. Why?" came the quick reply. She explained to Bob that while working on a HUD FHA project in 1985, he had been paid less than the prevailing wages for the classification of work he was doing on the project. Bob was silent, he knew this much from the letter. "How much?" he asked. "Oh, that's the good part," Melanie told him. "You are going to receive $9,420.27!" Hello? Hello? After five full minutes of screaming, yelling, and laughing, Bob regained his composure. Truly, this had been a very good day!

Post Script
HUD has made it a priority to find workers for whom back wages have been held on FHA projects over the years. Although we have worked on this project steadily for years, we have really "taken it to a higher level" recently. Since fiscal year 2000, HUD OLR staff has detected a total of $5,801,815.56 in wages due approximately 9,000 construction workers and housing authority maintenance staff. To assist in outreach to find workers due back wages, HUD's Office of Labor Relations has created a Website devoted to identifying "unfound" workers. The database includes information about persons who have worked on HUD FHA projects and are due back wages. Want to know more? Of course you do! Just go to the website at www.hud.gov/offices/olr/uwsearch.cfm. Workers may use the site to find out if they are due restitution. They need enter only the last name to search. After we verify the worker's identity, we will process payment. It's that easy!