DENVER ‒ The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health is recognizing the continued commitment to employees’ well-being by three Wyoming employers – Black Hills Energy, Cheyenne Prairie Generating Station in Cheyenne; Phillips 66, Casper Station in Casper; and Phillips 66, Rock Springs Terminal in Rock Springs – all of which recorded zero recordable injury or illness incidents in 2022. 

ORLAND PARK, IL – For the seventh time since 2015, federal workplace safety inspectors have cited an Oswego contractor who refuses to protect carpenters working at elevations, as required by federal law.

In the week ending June 3, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 261,000, an increase of 28,000 from the previous week's revised level. This is the highest level for initial claims since October 30, 2021 when it was 264,000. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 232,000 to 233,000. The 4-week moving average was 237,250, an increase of 7,500 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 250 from 229,500 to 229,750.

SANTA FE SPRINGS, CA – El Departamento de Trabajo de EE.UU. ha obtenido un dictamen por consentimiento para la recuperación de $650,000 en salarios de horas extra no pagados a 26 conductores de entrega de productos empleados por un fabricante de alimentos de Santa Fe Springs que los clasificó erróneamente como contratistas independientes exentos al pago de taridas de horas extra.

SANTA FE SPRINGS, CA – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment as part of its efforts to recover $650,000 in unpaid overtime wages for 26 delivery drivers of a Santa Fe Springs food manufacturer that misclassified them as independent contractors exempt from overtime.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor announced an upcoming listening session with business owners, employers and workers to collect input on how organizations make safety and health a core value in their workplaces.

GREENVILLE, IL – Federal workplace safety inspectors found a Fairmont City roofing contractor continuing to endanger employees to deadly fall hazards by not providing them fall protection, as required by federal law.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor announced that its Division of Coal Mine Workers’ Compensation will host a series of outreach events in Wyoming from June 13 to 15, 2023, for current and former coal miners and their survivors to file or re-file benefit claims for those disabled by black lung.

LAMESA, TX – A federal workplace safety inspection at another Dollar General store, this time in Lamesa, found exit routes and walkways blocked and merchandise unsafely stacked, conditions that exposed employees and others to fire hazards and struck-by injuries that have been common cause for violations at the company’s stores across the country.

Employer name:       

Hinton Investigations Inc.

516 Main St.

East Orange, New Jersey 07018

WATERLOO, IL ‒ A Breese contractor who ignored a city engineer’s repeated verbal and written instructions to use trench cave-in protection faces penalties after federal workplace safety inspectors found the employer failed to protect workers installing storm sewer lines from potentially deadly trench cave-ins on a least five occasions.

DEDEDO, GUAM – The U.S. Department of Labor will send experts from its Occupational Safety and Health Administration to areas of Guam hardest hit by Typhoon Mawar to protect the safety and health of recovery workers as part of the federal response and recovery effort after the storm struck the island in late May.

PHILADELPHIA – A federal court has ordered a Philadelphia home care agency and its owner to pay more than $7 million in back wages and liquidated damages to 1,230 current and former employees after two years of litigation affirmed the U.S. Department of Labor’s finding that the employers willfully failed to pay overtime wages, in most cases by not including employees’ time for work-related travel when calculating wages.

Employer:                              Tipsy Holding II LLC, operating as Tipsy Taco

Investigation sites:               215 Pelham Road, Greenville, SC 29615 – Headquarters

                                                15 Conostee Ave., Greenville, SC 29605

                                                728 Wade Hampton Blvd., Greenville, SC 29609

WASHINGTON – U.S. Assistant Secretary of Labor for Public Affairs Julie McClain Downey issued the following statement on the May 2023 Employment Situation Report:

ATLANTA – Workplace safety inspections by the U.S. Department of Labor in Alabama and Florida have found three Dollar General locations exposing employees to fire hazards and other unsafe conditions.

Employer name:       Petroline Inc., operator of Putnam Truck Stop                                                                                                                                                                           565 Tonnele Ave., Jersey City, New Jersey 07307

SAN FRANCISCO – Home to thousands of winemakers who produce 80 percent of the wine in the U.S., California vineyards also yield their share of unscrupulous employers who profit by taking advantage of migrant and seasonal farmworkers as the harvest season approaches.

To combat violations that deny workers their hard-earned wages or jeopardize their safety, the U.S. Department of Labor has stepped up its outreach and enforcement efforts in the Golden State.

In the week ending May 27, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 232,000, an increase of 2,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 229,000 to 230,000. The 4-week moving average was 229,500, a decrease of 2,500 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 250 from 231,750 to 232,000.

NEWTON, KS – After federal investigators found, for the second time in a year, that the owners and operators of 17 Sonic Drive-In locations in Kansas illegally allowed children to work longer and at times not permitted by law, the U.S. District Court of Kansas has ordered the franchisees to stop violating child labor regulations.