WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) today announced significant steps to streamline optional-use forms that workers can use to request and employers can use to coordinate leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).

COUNTY OF CARVER, MN – After an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD), the County of Carver, Minnesota, has paid an employee $1,136 in back wages for wrongly denying the worker’s request for paid leave to care for her child when her daycare center closed amid the coronavirus pandemic, a violation of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA).

In the week ending July 11, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 1,300,000, a decrease of 10,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised down by 4,000 from 1,314,000 to 1,310,000. The 4-week moving average was 1,375,000, a decrease of 60,000 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised down by 2,250 from 1,437,250 to 1,435,000.

CEDAR RAPIDS, IA – After a compliance review by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), Rockwell Collins – a federal contractor that designs and manufactures avionics, flight controls and information technology systems – has agreed to pay $250,000 in back pay to 76 female employees to resolve alleged pay discrimination at its Cedar Rapids, Iowa, facility.

MILWAUKEE, WI – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) in Wisconsin, the IRS and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) are presenting a series of webinars on paid sick leave, and expanded family and medical leave requirements of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) for employers and business owners.

BRIGHTON, MI – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) will present a webinar for Michigan area employers and business owners on paid sick leave and expanded family and medical leave requirements of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). WHD’s Detroit, Michigan, office and the Howell Area Chamber of Commerce, Heartland Area Chamber of Commerce and Greater Brighton Area Chamber of Commerce are presenting the event.  

DE SOTO, GA – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited Triple S Communications Inc. for violations of OSHA’s trenching and excavation standards after an employee was fatally injured in a trench collapse at a De Soto, Georgia, worksite. The Moultrie, Georgia, telecommunications installation contractor faces $58,025 in penalties.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has ordered JHOS Logistics and Transportation Inc. to reinstate an employee terminated for refusing to drive what the employee reasonably believed to be an overweight vehicle at the company’s Wilmington, California facility. OSHA also ordered the company to pay more than $190,000 in back wages, $25,000 in punitive damages, $5,000 in compensatory damages and attorney’s fees.

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced a Request for Information regarding the impact of paid family and medical leave on America’s workforce.

BOSTON, MA – The U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts has found two Massachusetts construction companies and two of their officers in civil contempt for failing to fulfill certain terms of an August 2016 consent judgment and order requiring them to pay $2,359,685 in back wages and liquidated damages to 478 employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia traveled to Knoxville, Tennessee, where he highlighted the Department’s recent announcement of $90 million in grant funding to help individuals who are exiting the justice system re-enter the workforce. In a roundtable discussion with leadership from grant recipient Knoxville Leadership Foundation and other community representatives, Secretary Scalia discussed effective strategies for supporting re-entry to the workforce of those leaving the criminal justice system.

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the appointment of five members and leadership for the 2020 Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans, also known as the ERISA Advisory Council. The 15-member council provides advice on policies and regulations affecting employee benefit plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA).

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced its intent to award two grants of up to $4 million each to increase the number of cocoa cooperatives demonstrating a reduction of child labor in the cocoa supply chain in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana.

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced its intent to award up to $5 million in grant funding to reduce child labor in Ethiopia’s agricultural sector, with a focus on the informal sector, using a gender-focused approach.

Made available through the Department’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB), the grant will focus on vulnerable women and adolescent girls, from age 5 to 17, working in agriculture.

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced its intent to award up to $4.5 million in grant funding to reduce child labor in mica-producing communities in Madagascar.

BOYNTON BEACH, FL – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited Camaney Services of Central Florida Inc. – based in Lake Worth, Florida – for exposing employees to fall hazards at two worksites in Boynton Beach, Florida. The contractor faces $49,930 in penalties.

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division’s (WHD) Payroll Audit Independent Determination (PAID) Program continues to provide an avenue to get workers the wages they are owed, bring employers into compliance and accomplish both goals with an efficiency that saves taxpayers money, with more than $7 million in back wages found for more than 11,000 workers.

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the award of one Dislocated Worker Grant (DWG) totaling $3,000,000 to help address the workforce-related impacts of the public health emergency related to the coronavirus. This award is funded under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which provided $345 million for DWGs to prevent, prepare for and respond to coronavirus.

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the launch of a public awareness campaign to remind workers that the Department’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) is committed to ensuring their workplace rights during the coronavirus pandemic and to ensure that employers know their responsibilities.

WASHINGTON, DC – Last week, the U.S. Department of Labor took a range of actions to aid American workers and employers as our nation combats the coronavirus pandemic.

Reopening America’s Economy: