$50B is stolen from US workers every year — more than all US burglaries combined. The DOL has 800 investigators for 135 million workers.
The existing reporting mechanism is a government PDF form in English only, that takes 45+ minutes to complete and requires workers to submit their real name — which goes directly to their employer.
I've been mapping documented social problems with no dominant tech solution. This one keeps standing out: the inputs are clear (document violation, know rights, file complaint without retaliation risk), the victims are reachable through worker centers and unions, and federal grant funding is available. And yet — nothing.
Has anyone tried to build here? Specifically trying to understand:
What breaks the model — retaliation risk? Difficulty reaching workers? Legal liability?
Is the go-to-market through worker centers (B2B) or direct to workers (B2C)?
Are there regulatory or legal landmines I should know about before building?
Happy to share the research prototype in comments for anyone interested.
I mean, you might say your wages were stolen and you might be right but to do something about it there has to be some due process to confirm that and isn't that expensive and complicated?