DEDEDO, GUAM – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced that its Occupational Safety and Health Administration has returned to normal enforcement operations throughout Guam in the aftermath of Typhoon Mawar.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a judgment barring a plan administrator and its CEO Shelley Steele from serving as fiduciaries or service providers to any plan covered by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, amid allegations they improperly paid themselves and affiliated businesses more than $100 million.

WASHINGTON – Acting U.S. Secretary of Labor Julie A. Su issued the following statement on the July 2023 Employment Situation report: 

MADISON, WI – The U.S. Department of Labor has filed suit against the nation’s largest third-party medical claims administrator for routinely denying healthcare claims for emergency room services and urinary drug screening for at least 2,136 self-funded employee welfare benefit plans.

LEXINGTON, SC - Un tribunal federal ha condenado a un contratista de trabajo de Carolina del Sur (Balcazar Nature Harvesting LLC y sus operadores) después de que una investigación de varios agencias, incluyendo el Departamento de Trabajo de EE.

EL PASO, TX - Un proveedor de servicio de atención medica en el hogar y hospicio en El Paso esperaba que el personal trabajara horas extra para cuidar a personas que lo necesitaban, pero no les pagaba a 133 personas empleadas los salarios por horas extras que habían ganado, según descubrió el Departamento de Trabajo de EE.UU.

EL PASO, TX – An El Paso home healthcare and hospice service provider expected employees to work long days to care for people in need but failed to pay 133 of its employees the overtime wages they earned, the U.S. Department of Labor has found.

The investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division led to the recovery of $501,211 in overtime and liquidated damages from San Lorenzo Adult Provider and Pediatrics for the affected workers.

FORT WAYNE, IN – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment in federal court as part of its recovery of $188,915 in  overtime back wages and liquidated damages for 83 employees denied overtime pay by a Fort Wayne home care provider.

SPOKANE, WA– An extensive U.S. Department of Labor investigation into the pay and employment practices at 23 stores operated by a Spokane-based supermarket chain has recovered more than $350,000 in back wages and damages for 602 employees and assessed penalties of $72,862 for the employer’s willful violations.

LOGAN TOWNSHIP, NJ – A federal workplace safety investigation has again found workers at an Amazon fulfillment center exposed to ergonomic hazards, this time at a Logan Township facility.

Employer:    Alley Enterprises LLC, operating as Central Restaurant, 129 Coosa St., Montgomery, AL 36104

LEXINGTON, SC – A federal court has sentenced a South Carolina labor contractor — Balcazar Nature Harvesting LLC and its operators — after a U.S. Department of Labor and multi-agency investigation found the employers subjected migrant farmworkers to exploitative labor, confiscated passports and housed workers in unsafe and unhealthy conditions.

WASHINGTON – To support efforts to address Michigan’s continuing opioid crisis, the U.S. Department of Labor today announced an incremental award of $1,025,221 for the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity to fund employment and training services and disaster-relief jobs for workers in 24 of the state’s counties.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced a final rule, “Pre-enforcement Notice and Conciliation Procedures,” to create a streamlined, efficient, and flexible process that will enable the Office of Federal Contract Compliance to employ its resources strategically to remove barriers to equal employment opportunity.

In the week ending July 29, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 227,000, an increase of 6,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 221,000. The 4-week moving average was 228,250, a decrease of 5,500 from the previous week's unrevised average of 233,750.

Employer name:       Mt. Clifton Fruit Company LLC

Investigation site:     17581 Mechanicsville Road, Timberville, VA 22853

HOUSTON – Despite an extensive history of serious and repeat violations dating back more than a decade, a Houston steel erection company again failed to correct fall protection systems hazards, a federal workplace safety investigation has found.

Who:  U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Region 4       

What:  Whistleblower protections webinar

When:  Aug. 16, 2023, 1-3 p.m. EDT  

SALT LAKE CITY – A federal court in Utah has issued a preliminary injunction ordering the removal of the CEO and co-owner of Ascent Construction Inc. in Farmington as trustee of the company’s employee stock ownership plan after the U.S. Department of Labor learned he used more than $300,000 in the plan’s employee retirement funds to pay company business expenses.

YUMA, AZ – A federal investigation into the pay practices of a Yuma sports bar and grill has recovered $114,996 in back wages and damages for 86 workers employed by three owners who learned that denying employees overtime wages — deliberately and knowingly — is a bad and costly wager.