DES MOINES, IA – The U.S. Department of Labor filed suit against a federal contractor that failed to ensure its subcontractors paid 3,964 employees as required at 88 Iowa sites, resulting in $3,348,543 in prevailing wage, overtime and fringe benefit back wages due. The employees removed poultry waste potentially infected with avian flu from the sites.

SAN FRANCISCO – Sixteen people participating in an employee retirement plan sponsored by a now defunct Danville construction company will receive distributions of almost $1 million in assets following an investigation and litigation by the U.S. Department of Labor.

SAN ANTONIO – The pay practices of a San Antonio company that exclusively hires military veterans to work as security guards violated federal law and shortchanged 79 employees of $57,465 in overtime back wages, a U.S. Department of Labor investigation has found.  

SAN ANTONIO - Las prácticas salariales de una empresa de San Antonio que contrata exclusivamente a veteranos militares para trabajar como guardias de seguridad violaron la ley federal y pagaron $57,465 a 79 empleados en salarios atrasados por horas extras, tras una reciente investigación del Departamento de Trabajo de EE.UU. 

HARTFORD, CT – The U.S. Marshals Service facilitated the seizure of $126,250 in back wages and liquidated damages and $22,413 in attorney’s fees from the corporate bank account of a New London home healthcare provider after the employers reneged on a payment agreement and defied orders from the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut.

NEW YORK – A federal court has ordered a prominent Long Island thoroughbred horseracing stable and its owner to pay a total of $132,631 in back wages and liquidated damages to 52 grooms and hot walkers at several locations, including Belmont and Aqueduct racetracks. The stable owner failed to pay workers the overtime wages they earned.

MINNEAPOLIS – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered more than $9.3 million for participants of a Minneapolis manufacturing company’s employee stock ownership plan after the fund overpaid for company stock in 2011, under the terms of a consent judgment entered in a federal court.

Date of action:                       Dec. 30, 2021

Type of action:                      Order

Names of defendants:       Convergys Customer Management Group Inc.

BOSTON – An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor has led the fiduciaries of a Utica, New York, employee stock ownership plan to agree to return $431,000 to the plan’s participants and take action to resolve its Employee Retirement Income Security Act violations.

JACKSONVILLE, FL – A Florida-based roofing contractor – with a long history of exposing his workers to the serious and potentially fatal risks related to falls – faces possible incarceration for his failure to comply with court orders once again.

BOSTON – The Occupational Safety and Health Act authorizes the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration to issue subpoenas to request necessary documents as part of an OSHA inspection. If a recipient fails to comply, the department may then move to enforce the subpoena in federal district court. A recent decision by the U.S.

BOSTON – The U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts has ordered a Massachusetts contractor to pay $438,000 in back wages to 250 employees for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act after the court had previously ordered the contractor to pay punitive damages for unlawful retaliation under the FLSA. Woburn-based JKA Construction Inc. and owners Clesio Da Silva, Fabio Da Costa, Rafael De Paula and Josias De Paula must also pay $64,750 in civil money penalties to the U.S.

BOSTON – O Tribunal Distrital dos EUA para o Distrito de Massachusetts condenou uma empresa de Massachusetts a pagar $438.000 em salários atrasados a 250 trabalhadores por violação do Ato dos Padrões Justos de Trabalho , depois de o tribunal ter previamente ordenado o contratante a pagar indenização por danos punitivos por retaliação ilegal sob a FLSA.

BOSTON – El Tribunal de Distrito de EE.UU. por el distrito de Massachusetts ha ordenado a un contratista de Massachusetts pagar $438,000 en salarios atrasados a 250 empleados por violaciones de la Ley de Normas Laborales Justas después de que el tribunal ya ordenara al contratista pagar compensación por daños por represalias.

AUSTIN, TX – A federal investigation and consent judgment has recovered $170,000 in back wages and liquidated damages from the operator of two Austin-area restaurants who denied overtime to 17 kitchen workers who labored 60 hours a week. The probe found the restaurants’ operator later submitted falsified documents to investigators to make it appear they had paid overtime pay to resolve Fair Labor Standards Act violations found by the U.S.

MADISON, WI – A U.S. District Court judge in Wisconsin has held a Madison business owner in civil contempt of court after he failed to comply with a March 2021 consent order and judgment requiring him to restore $53,122 to the Thunderbird Engineering Inc. company’s 401(k) Plan.

HOUSTON – A federal whistleblower investigation led the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration to order a Houston mobile crane rental company to pay a former employee nearly $24,000 in back wages, interest and damages after firing the worker in June 2020 for refusing to drive in excess of federal limits and reported fatigue.

DENTON, TX – As the coronavirus began to spread rapidly across the nation in March 2020, an employee of one of the world’s largest manufacturers of light, medium and heavy-duty trucks told a supervisor of their concerns about exposure to the virus at the Denton facility.

AUSTIN, TX – Officials from the U.S. Department of Labor and the Travis County District Attorney’s Office signed a Memorandum of Understanding to expand and improve the protection of Travis County’s workforce, enforcement of wage laws and level the playing field for responsible employers. 

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor, National Labor Relations Board and U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission today announced a joint initiative to raise awareness about retaliation issues when workers exercise their protected labor rights.