This is the article that spawned this famous and shocking wage theft vs other theft infographic: https://www.tcworkerscenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/W...
I always thought that if government had a role to play in our lives this stuff should be near the top if not at the top of the list but I don't know of any country where it works the way I think it should work: The employee makes a single phone call (just like calling the police only slower), the gov agency calls the employer and instructs him to follow the rules leaving zero ambiguity. If he fails to immediately and retroactively correct his mistake an investigation and a fine follows. Ideally the employee is also compensated appropriately. If they lose their job in the process a year salary seems reasonable.
Why else spend millions to write all those laws if we are not going to implement them? Seems a waste of money? Why go to court for obvious things? In NL they have to steal more than 10% of your salary or the case will be dismissed. It's probably much less expensive than the US but it ain't cheap and you can forget ever getting promotion or a raise even if they don't just fire you.
We do in theory have such an agency in NL but they are more hunting for slave labor and cursory investigate pre-announced sectors one by one.