NC Labor Department reports record $889,640 recovered for workers
The money came from settlements and other relief obtained through state investigations of alleged workplace retaliation.
RALEIGH — The N.C. Department of Labor says its workplace-retaliation bureau secured a record $889,640 in monetary relief for workers during the 2026 state fiscal year.
The total is the highest annual recovery reported by the department’s Retaliatory Employment Discrimination Bureau, according to Labor Commissioner Luke Farley.
The bureau investigates complaints filed under the Retaliatory Employment Discrimination Act, commonly known as REDA. The state law protects workers against retaliation for engaging in specified legally protected activities.
Those activities include reporting workplace-safety concerns, filing workers’ compensation claims, initiating wage-and-hour complaints and exercising other rights recognized under state law.
The $889,640 includes settlements and other financial relief produced through the bureau’s investigations, mediation and conciliation work. Depending on a case’s circumstances, relief can include lost wages, lost benefits and compensation for other economic losses.
The department did not disclose how many cases produced the record total, identify the employers involved or provide a comparison with the previous fiscal year’s recovery. Those omissions limit the conclusions that can be drawn about whether complaints, enforcement activity or average recoveries increased.
Farley said the recoveries represented relief for workers who exercised rights protected by law.
“No worker should have to fear losing a job or paycheck for reporting an unsafe condition or exercising a right protected by law,” Farley said.
Workers generally must submit a written REDA complaint within 180 days of the alleged retaliatory action. The department investigates the complaint and may pursue voluntary resolution through mediation or conciliation.
REDA applies to retaliation connected to several state employment statutes rather than functioning as a general workplace-discrimination law. Protected conduct can include actions associated with occupational safety, wage-and-hour requirements and workers’ compensation.
The recovery total reflects enforcement during the state fiscal year that ended June 30.
Because the department released only an aggregate amount, the announcement does not establish how much individual workers received or whether the bureau found violations in every investigated complaint. It does, however, provide a statewide measure of monetary relief obtained through the agency’s retaliation-enforcement process.
Editor’s note:
This article was drafted with the assistance of artificial intelligence and was reviewed and fact-checked by a member of the NC Political News editorial team before publication.
