The New York Department of Labor was able to collect and disburse more than $28 million in illegally underpaid wages during 2009. That is the largest amount of recovered wages in the state’s history – topping the previous record set in 2008. Nearly 18,000 New York workers benefited from the department’s ability to collect the wages by enforcing labor laws. According to the department, in 2009, 28 contractors were debarred from doing work on New York State public works projects due to wage violations.