Weekend Roundup

Enjoy the weekend with headbanging, sausage and sci-fi

After a four-day workweek you realize one of two things: It either feels like it’s just as long as a regular five-day workweek, or you suddenly realize you got a lot less done than you normally would. It’s basically Newton’s third law of motion: For every day of rest by the pool, there is another day of trudging through your inbox.

But just because you feel like you’re still playing catch-up, it doesn’t mean you should shut yourself in for the next two days. There’s still fun to be had with our top picks for the weekend, so just procrastinate with your responsibilities. It got you through college, didn’t it?

Chaos in Tejas

If you have a ton of pent-up energy from sitting behind a desk all week, Chaos in Tejas is the place to unleash it. The hardcore music festival features the best of punk and metal from around the world that wants to make you sweat and destroy your eardrums.

A legion of bands are spread out across downtown Austin venues through Sunday, but if you can’t make up your mind then see what Chaos found Timmy Hefner recommends from the lineup. Whoever you see, just be ready to have a few hearing problems come Monday.

2013 Sausage & Opera Festival

Out in the nearby town of Elgin, you might discover the perfect combination of art and food. If you prefer to pair your Offenbach with your brats, then welcome to heaven.

Singers from the Franco-American Vocal Academy will regale audiences with a performance La Vie Parisienne, plus an art show and competition, a choir performance, a raffle, and all that you could possibly desire of the city’s famed sausage.

Queerbomb 2013

It’s that time again to fill the streets of Austin with pride and support for the ever-changing LGBTQIA community for the fourth year in a row. Starting with a rally at Pine Street Station, the crowd will then march down Sixth Street and back, so consider wearing some comfy shoes but feel free to go crazy with the rest of your outfit.

Special guest speakers will get the rally going, and while there is no official after party this year, Queerbomb invites everyone to spread across the city for unofficial parties and gatherings for maximum citywide coverage.

Master Pancake mocks Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Each week features a new weekly blockbuster during the summer, so the gang of Master Pancake wants to reflect that spirit with a special mockery of the classic Star Trek film that doesn’t have the whales but does have Ricardo Montalban spouting Melville.

For the uninitiated, Master Pancake provide live, comedic commentary during the course of the film a la Mystery Science Theater 3000, except with both good and bad films. Expect plenty of hearty laughs as they provide commentary over whether Montalban or Shatner is the best at chewing scenery.

Whatever you decide, treat this weekend as if it were a three-day weekend. Don’t let Monday roll around with a feeling like you could have done more.

Captain James Tiberius Kirk.

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Don't Toss That Dough

15,000 Texans have unclaimed wages: How to find out if you're one

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There's a new tool online for checking for owed wages.

On December 3, the U.S. Department of Labor announced via news release that about 15,000 Texans are owed more than $11 million in unclaimed wages. In Austin, approximately 450 still have unclaimed wages, according to the U.S. Department of Labor's Austin community outreach and resource planning specialist, Rogelio A. Colón, who explained some details in a call with another regional representative and CultureMap.

Luckily, the Department of Labor has a new user-friendly program called Workers Owed Wages online tool (WOW), so you can easily find out if you're one of the Texans owed money. The tool works in both English and Spanish, and the release encourages users to submit their information before the end of the year. A step-by-step guide is available below.

When companies don't properly pay their workers’ wages, they may be investigated by the Department of Labor. If the Department of Labor finds that back wages are due, the company must generally resolve this by mailing out a check to employees' last known address. If they can't find a worker, though — maybe they moved — the money goes back to the Department of Labor to be held.

If the money isn't claimed within three years, it goes to the U.S. Treasury, and ultimately into the pockets of Congress to spend.

"We don't want this money," says deputy regional director of the U.S. Department of Labor Public Affairs Office Juan J. Rodríguez. "Let's be honest. This is a drop in the bucket for the Treasury Department. We don't want them to have it; we would rather the workers get it, because it's their money."

Across the nation there's more than $150 million in back wages due to about 145,000 workers, according to Colón. In the Austin area alone, about $550,000 still remains unclaimed.

"It's a lot of money," says Colón. He adds that many of the workers missing these wages are the ones who need it most. Oftentimes these are people in the construction or food industries, without a permanent residence.

"We really want to ensure that they hear about this, and they claim their money," says Colón. "They've earned it."

Here's how it works:

Search for your employer: Enter your present or former employer's name in the WOW application to find your company. Note: Not all companies are going to populate here; just the ones who have paid back wages that weren't received.
Verify your name: Type your full name into the system. WOW will confirm if wages are owed to you.
Submit your contact information: Add your contact details and email address so the Department of Labor can send you the Back Wage Claim Form and instructions.
Upload signed claim form and documents: Check your email for the Back Wage Claim Form (WH-60). Complete and sign it, then create a login.gov account to upload your form. You'll need to include a photo of one of the following to verify your identity:
- Social Security card
- Individual Taxpayer Identification (ITIN) card
- Driver's license or State ID
- W-2, pay stub or other documentation
Processing and payment: After you submit your Back Wages Claim Form, the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) will process it and send you a check for your owed wages.

Even though the instructional video on the website indicates you may "find extra money just when your family needs it," it will likely take about six weeks to receive payment.

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