HARTFORD, CT – A federal court has entered a consent judgment and order requiring six Connecticut restaurants and their owners to pay a total of $858,191 in back wages and liquidated damages to 105 employees after an investigation and litigation by the U.S. Department of Labor.

The restaurants are located in Darien, Fairfield, Greenwich, New Canaan, New Haven and Westport.

DALLAS – Federal investigations at 16 McDonald’s franchise locations in Louisiana and Texas have found child labor violations affecting 83 minors, the Department of Labor announced today.

Employer name: Morris-Pace Assisted Living Inc., operating as Morris-Pace Personal Care Home, and located at 416 Reading Ave., Reading, Pennsylvania 19611

Court action: Consent judgment obtained on July 3, 2023, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania by the Department of Labor.

JACKSONVILLE, FL – A federal workplace safety investigation found a Jacksonville psychiatric health and substance disorder facility did not follow safety procedures, leaving workers vulnerable to injuries, including one who a patient reportedly kicked in the face.

WASHINGTON – The departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and the Treasury today announced an important step in addressing the nation’s mental health crisis by proposing rules to better ensure that people seeking coverage for mental health and substance use disorder care can access treatment as easily as people seeking coverage for medical treatments.

Participants:  U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration

                              Cardinal IG Waxahachie

SAN FRANCISCO – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $373,471 in back wages and damages for 23 caregivers after an investigation found a Bay Area staffing agency denied overtime wages to workers, some of whom worked 12 to 16 hours a day.

BRAINTREE, MA – When U.S. Department of Labor inspectors returned to a Boston food plant in March 2023, they discovered the plant’s operator — Chinese Spaghetti Factory Inc. — still had not installed required safety guards on a dumpling machine’s rotating shafts, a dangerous hazard for which the company was cited for after an employee suffered serious injuries in 2022.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced an incremental award of $8,333,334 to the Commonwealth of Kentucky to support continued disaster-relief employment and employment and training services after tornadoes in December 2021 and severe flooding in July 2022.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the initial award of $6.6 million in funding to the Commonwealth of Kentucky to support cleanup and recovery activities after severe storms caused flooding and extensive damage in February 2023.

PEWAUKEE, WI – The U.S. Department of Labor has found the operator of four Wisconsin restaurants violated several federal regulations, denying 110 servers, cooks and other employees earned wages and tips and employing three minors to work later and longer hours than the law permits.

ANDOVER, MA – A pet supply store in North Andover operated by a subsidiary of one of the nation’s largest pet care companies routinely exposed employees to live and dead rodents as well as their droppings and urine, a federal workplace safety inspection has found.

Employer: Bellinger Parts Group Inc., operating as NAPA Auto Parts

Corporate location:  NAPA Auto Parts, 160 Bentree Lane, Florence, SC 29501                                

Sites investigated: NAPA Auto Parts, 612 Pearl St. Darlington, SC 29532

NAPA Auto Parts, 913 Highway 301 N. Dillon, SC 29536

NAPA Auto Parts, 116 3rd Loop Road Effingham, SC 29505

GREEN BAY, WI ‒ Federal safety inspectors responded to a Green Bay rendering plant after an employee  suffered severe burns when a pump seal released steam and hot oil as workers tried to clear a blockage in January 2023.

Employer:      The Saucy Crab Grand Rapids LLC operating as The Saucy Crab

                        5039 28th St. SE

                        Grand Rapids, MI

WASHINGTON – The Department of Labor announced that its procurement practices have earned the department an A+ score — for the sixth consecutive year — on the Fiscal Year 2022 Small Business Procurement Scorecard.

In the week ending July 15, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 228,000, a decrease of 9,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 237,000. The 4-week moving average was 237,500, a decrease of 9,250 from the previous week's unrevised average of 246,750.

MIAMI – A U.S. Department of Labor investigation into the electrocution of a 32-year-old worker in Miami found the lineman’s employer failed to make certain its crews working near overhead power lines followed required safety measures.

Participants:      U.S. Department of Labor’s

                            Occupational Safety and Health Administration

                            Aims Community College

SAN DIEGO – Soon after the San Diego Unified School District and U.S. Department of Labor reached an agreement in April 2023 to improve compliance by the nation’s 14th largest school district with the Family and Medical Leave Act, the district took immediate actions and the benefits for employees quickly showed.