CANTON, GA – A Canton tire retailer and auto shop shortchanged 19 workers by withholding first paychecks and paying overtime at rates lower than required, a U.S. Department of Labor investigation has determined.

In the week ending June 4, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 229,000, an increase of 27,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 2,000 from 200,000 to 202,000. The 4-week moving average was 215,000, an increase of 8,000 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 500 from 206,500 to 207,000.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration has launched a new enforcement initiative to better protect the nation’s miners from health hazards resulting from repeated overexposure to respirable crystalline silica. MSHA reports silica dust affects thousands of miners each year and, without adequate protection, miners face risks of serious illnesses, many of which can be fatal.

CLEVELAND, OH – A North Royalton businessman who failed to pay payroll taxes to the IRS and embezzled health care premiums deducted from his employees’ checks, will spend the next two years in prison and pay restitution of $558,697 to the IRS and $3,807 to the participants of his companies’ health care plan.

SYRACUSE, NY – On Nov. 29, 2021, a supervisor at McDowell and Walker Inc. – a manufacturer and supplier of grains, feeds and other agricultural products – told an untrained employee to enter a grain bin to clear a feed buildup that clogged a silo entry point at the company’s Afton facility.

DETROIT – A federal judge has found Independent Home Care of Michigan LLC and its owners Mary Clark and Kathryn Flick liable to pay 23 home healthcare workers a total of $93,331 – representing $46,665 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages– after the company failed to pay companion workers overtime wages.

OKLAHOMA CITY – A recent U.S. Department of Labor investigation found a Shawnee, Oklahoma, gas station and convenience store made illegal deductions from workers’ pay for uniforms and cash register shortages that brought wages below the federally required minimum wage.

ATHENS, GA – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has signed a strategic partnership with McCarthy Building Companies to promote worker safety and health during the construction of a poultry science lab at the University of Georgia in Athens.

Date of actions:         May 5 and May 27, 2022

Type of action:          Contempt Orders

Names of defendants:  Valley Wide Plastering Inc.; Jesse Guerrero; Rose Guerrero; J.R. Guerrero

ST. LOUIS – To reduce dangers faced by construction industry workers, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Associated General Contractors of Missouri renewed their partnership agreement to train and protect the state’s construction industry workers.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai today announced that the United States has asked Mexico to review whether workers at the Teksid Hierro de México facility in Frontera, State of Coahuila, are being denied the rights of free association and collective bargaining.

CLEARWATER, FL – Following a U.S. Department of Labor investigation, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky has sentenced Nitesh Patel to serve 12 months’ probation, including 12 months of home confinement following his Nov. 3, 2021, guilty plea to one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud.

CHICAGO – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited two more Dollar General stores for endangering the safety of their employees, continuing the company’s long history of workplace safety violations nationwide.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh issued the following statement on the May 2022 Employment Situation Report:

Date of action:

May 31, 2022

Type of action:

Stipulated settlement

Names of defendants:

Lakewood Resource and Referral Center Inc., operating as the Center for Education, Medicine and Dentistry in Lakewood, NJ

Employer: Alabama Resources LLC, operating as ALARES

Investigation site: 4624 Lori Lane, Milton, FL 32571

MANCHESTER, NH – Un tribunal federal emitió una orden de consentimiento contra la empresa de jardinería y paisajismo en Salem que opera en el sur de New Hampshire y noreste de Massachusetts.

WASHINGTON – To bolster community colleges’ and other institutions’ efforts to deliver more equitable education and training, the U.S. Department of Labor today announced the availability of a $50 million funding opportunity to help people in marginalized and underrepresented populations overcome barriers to the career and technical education programs they need to be connected to good-paying jobs. 

WASHINGTON – To help identify and address barriers workers face in accessing state unemployment insurance benefits, the U.S. Department of Labor today announced the award of more than $9.1 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding to the Texas Workforce Commission.

The grant is the largest equity grant awarded to a single state under this funding opportunity, which provides states up to $260 million to improve equity in their unemployment insurance program.

ORANGE CITY, FL – An Orlando framing contractor’s failure to comply with building code requirements and a roof truss manufacturer’s engineering specification caused the roof trusses to collapse and fatally injure a 67-year-old worker at an Orange City building site on Nov. 8, 2021.