Fighting against child labor and advocating for worker rights

We filed a complaint to prevent three Alabama companies, including a Hyundai U.S. assembly and manufacturing plant, from employing children illegally. The complaint also requests that the court require the companies to surrender profits related to the use of oppressive child labor. The action follows an investigation by our Wage and Hour Division that found a 13-year-old working up to 50-60 hours per week on an assembly line, operating machines that formed sheet metal into auto body parts.

Research shows an increase in the estimated number of children engaged in child labor worldwide, including in hazardous tasks, and climate change is exacerbating the problem. On June 5, Deputy Undersecretary for International Affairs Thea Lee led a panel discussion with experts on what it will take to build a clean global economy that is free of child and forced labor. She also announced the 2024 recipients of the Iqbal Masih Award for the Elimination of Child Labor: Wadi El Nil Association, an Egyptian civil society organization, and Andrews Addoquaye Tagoe, a trade union leader from Ghana.

• Watch the event
• Learn more about the Iqbal Masih Award
• Read a blog post by Thea Lee

Three Rhode Island nail salons and their owner will pay $753,500 in back wages and damages and take corrective actions after violating wage and retaliation laws. The department sued New VIP Nail Spa Inc., VIP Neo Nails Inc., VIP Spa & Nails Inc. and owner Steven Xingri Cao in August 2022 for alleged violations identified during investigations. This is one of the few joint cases we have ever filed involving retaliation claims under two different laws.

A Southern California waste collection and recycling company has agreed to pay $104,658 to resolve alleged gender-based hiring discrimination.

The Pathways program’s holistic approach to student care helps participants overcome common barriers to success and achieve their education and career goals.

Labor rights issues at a mine in Mexico have been resolved — including the reinstatement of workers dismissed for protected union activity — following a petition filed under the USMCA.

A federal judge has affirmed the airline violated the general duty clause, following OSHA’s investigation into a technician’s debilitating injury at Newark Liberty International Airport.

Tragedies often remind us of what is important and the simple steps that could have been taken to prevent them. Practice safety today and every day at work.

Join us for a panel discussion on combating exploitative child labor on June 12.

How a labor-management partnership between the United Food and Commercial Workers union and employers in the retail food industry helps keep stores running and shelves stocked.

Our agency champions LGBTQI+ rights, ensuring workplace safety and respect with protections like FMLA leave, nondiscrimination policies, and resources on restroom access and mental health.

⚠️ 💅 Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Wage and Hour Division investigations found that New VIP Nail Spa, VIP Neo Nails, VIP Spa & Nails and owner Steven Xingri Cao:

-fired and threatened an employee who was sickened by an undiluted sanitizer and raised safety & complaints

-threatened another employee -did not pay proper overtime compensation

-did not maintain accurate work records

-provided false information to investigators

-compelled employees to sign documents that contained false information

Now the employer has to pay workers $753,500 in back wages and damages, plus take other corrective actions. Read more about this case here: https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/sol/sol20240529

If any of this ever happens to you or someone you know at work, well, it shouldn't. Call us: 1-866-4-USA-DOL

-OSHA LinkedIn

• Business Insider: The Biden Administration’s labor department is hitting the road for ‘Good Jobs Summer’
• Axios: Biden's dealmaker: How Julie Su Helped broker a union contract in the hostile South
• Working Nation: ‘Occupational segregation’ puts many women in the workforce on uneven economic footing
• The Grio: Watch: Biden labor secretary says Black jobs are seeing better days