OKLAHOMA CITY – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment and injunction to recover $120,000 in back wages and liquidated damages for 177 Oklahoma restaurant workers whose employer deducted time for lunch breaks not taken and failed to pay employees for all hours worked.

MILWAUKEE – A federal court has ordered the operators of four Milwaukee-area chicken franchise restaurants to pay $442,140 to 29 employees in a consent judgment and order obtained following an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor. 

ORLANDO, FL – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent order requiring a Jacksonville Beach water park to pay $151,606 in penalties after investigators found the company assigned young teenagers to work late hours during the school year and as attendants on elevated water slides without certification.

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

                              Jixi Qiu, owner

                              5039 28th St. SE

TEMPLE, TX – Federal workplace safety investigators have determined that a Temple manufacturer and designer of school furnishings could have prevented an employee’s serious and permanent hand and arm injuries by installing required machine guards. 

DALLAS – The U.S. Department of Labor and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center have entered into a conciliation agreement in which the federal contractor will pay $900,000 in back wages and interest to resolve alleged systemic racial hiring affecting 6,123 Black applicants at the center’s Dallas facility.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today awarded $800,000 to the Kansas Local Area I Workforce Investment Board, also known as Kansas WorkforceONE, to support employment and training services for people affected by multiple layoffs and closures between January 2024 and June 2024. 

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the approval of up to $5 million in initial emergency grant funding to Tennessee to support disaster-relief jobs and training services in 12 counties to help respond to Tropical Storm Helene. 

BRAINTREE, MA – A federal workplace safety investigation has found the operator of three Massachusetts waterproofing contracting companies could have prevented an employee from suffering fatal injuries in February 2024 when part of a foundation broke and fell on the worker in a 5-to-6-foot-deep trench beneath the foundation of a Hanson residence.

WASHINGTON – The Department of Labor will hold its next meeting of the 2024 Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans, also known as the ERISA Advisory Council, on Oct. 22. Open to the public, the online meeting is also accessible via teleconference.

HUNTSVILLE, AL – A U.S. Department of Labor workplace safety investigation has found that a Huntsville countertop installation company could have prevented a 33-year-old employee from being struck by a stone slab weighing thousands of pounds by following federal safety standards at a Huntsville job site.

WHITTIER, CA – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $158,868 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages from a Southern California residential care provider that refused to pay overtime to 45 workers, some of whom worked up to 70 hours per week.

WASHINGTON – Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su hosted an unveiling of the U.S. Department of Labor’s AI Best Practices, a comprehensive roadmap designed to ensure artificial intelligence enhances job quality and safeguards workers’ rights and well-being. 

In the week ending October 12, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 241,000, a decrease of 19,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 2,000 from 258,000 to 260,000. The 4-week moving average was 236,250, an increase of 4,750 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 500 from 231,000 to 231,500.

MACON, GA – Federal safety inspectors found a Macon tire manufacturing facility with a history of safety and health violations could have prevented the fatal injuries sustained by a 57-year-old maintenance worker in April 2024. 

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the release of comprehensive Artificial Intelligence Best Practices designed to ensure that emerging technologies such as AI enhance job quality and benefit workers when they are used in the workplace.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor announced today that its Wage and Hour Division will offer online seminars for contractors, contracting agencies, unions, workers and other stakeholders on prevailing wage requirements in fiscal year 2025 for federally funded construction and service contracts.

WASHINGTON – The National Labor Relations Board today announced that union election petitions more than doubled in fiscal year 2024 compared to FY 2021. Following the announcement, Acting Secretary Julie Su issued the following statement: 

NEW YORK – An administrative law judge has ordered a Pennsylvania-based federal contractor to pay $85,284 in back wages for failing to pay prevailing wages, fringe benefits and overtime pay owed to workers employed on multiple federal construction projects, after an investigation and litigation by the U.S. Department of Labor.

ATLANTA – A federal administrative law judge has ruled that CSX Transportation Inc., a subsidiary of one of the nation’s largest transportation companies, must pay a total of $453,510 to two railroad workers who were wrongfully terminated for exercising their federally protected rights to report workplace safety concerns. The company must also reinstate the workers.