BEAUMONT, TX – Two employees of a national tank cleaning company suffered injuries when exposed to hydrogen sulfide – a flammable, highly toxic colorless gas – that was present during the cleaning process ­­of a tanker truck on April 25, 2023, in Beaumont. Two municipal firefighters responding to the scene also suffered injuries from the gas. 

Employer:                                          Brookens Construction LLC

                                                                 6592 Lake Road, Suite D

WASHINGTON – The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement’s Interagency Labor Committee for Monitoring and Enforcement today triggered a request to the government of Mexico to conduct a review at the Asiaway auto parts plant in San Luis Potosí, based on its findings that a denial of workers’ rights has occurred there.

The U.S. Department of Labor and Office of the U.S. Trade Representative co-chair the Interagency Labor Committee.

LOS ANGELES – El Departamento de Trabajo de EE.UU.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Deputy Undersecretary for International Affairs Thea Lee made the following statement regarding the Oct. 4, 2023, murder of Doris Lisseth Aldana Calderón, a union leader in Guatemala.

“The U.S. Department of Labor condemns the brutal murder of Doris Lisseth Aldana Calderón, a trade union leader at a banana packing facility in Guatemala and member of SITRABI, the Izabal Banana Workers’ Union representing 3,000 workers. 

LOS ANGELES – The U.S.

COLLEGEVILLE, PA – A Collegeville restaurant and its owners must pay $268,660 in back wages, liquidated damages and punitive damages to satisfy a consent judgment obtained by the U.S. Department of Labor after an investigation into the employers’ illegal pay practices.

NEW YORK – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent injunction ordering a Rockland County roofing contractor and its principal to provide employees with fall protection equipment and make sure it’s used at all company worksites, as required by federal law. The order finds that, by allowing employees to do roofing work without fall protection, the company is exposing them to imminent danger of death or serious harm.

PITTSBURGH – A federal court is requiring a Pittsburgh staffing agency and its owner to pay $208,044 in back wages and liquidated damages to 96 home health workers misclassified as independent contractors by the employer who, in turn, failed to pay them their full wages.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the implementation of a final rule that modernizes Davis-Bacon Act and Davis-Bacon and Related Acts regulations to reflect the needs of construction workers on federally funded projects better.

Read this news release En Español.

OXFORD, MS – Olin Corp., one of the world’s leading small arms and ammunition makers has entered into an agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor in which the employer will pay $630,000 in back wages and interest to resolve alleged hiring discrimination against 286 Black and women applicants who applied for positions over two years at its Oxford facility.

SEATTLE – A federal investigation into employees working off-the-clock during meal breaks by one of the world’s largest security and facility services providers led to the recovery of nearly $1.1 million in back wages and liquidated damages for 778 employees and a nationwide enhanced agreement to comply with the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime and recordkeeping provisions.

HOUSTON, TX – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs has entered into a conciliation agreement with Allied Universal, one of the world’s largest security and facility services providers, to resolve alleged systemic race-based hiring discrimination at a Houston facility operated by one of its subsidiaries. 

WASHINGTON – Today, in the White House H-2B Worker Protection Taskforce report, the U.S. Department of Labor joined the Department of Homeland Security, Department of State and U.S. Agency for International Development to announce new efforts to strengthen protections for workers in the H-2B program, who are vulnerable to exploitation by their employers. 

Date of action:                      Sept. 28, 2023

Type of action:                     Consent Judgment and Order

WILLIAMSBURG, VA – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment in a Virginia federal court to recover $205,180 in back wages and liquidated damages from a Williamsburg restaurant that shortchanged 62 employees of their overtime wages intentionally.

In the week ending October 14, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 198,000, a decrease of 13,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 2,000 from 209,000 to 211,000. The 4-week moving average was 205,750, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 500 from 206,250 to 206,750.

Employer:      BBQ Ookook Inc., operating as Oo-Kook Korean BBQ

                        3385 W. Eighth St.

ORLANDO, FL – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $224,113 in lost wages and benefits for 37 Florida workers after finding two employers failed to pay fringe benefits and prevailing and overtime wages to employees working on a new Veterans Affairs multi-specialty outpatient clinic in Daytona Beach.