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MINNEAPOLIS – A Minnesota lawn care and snow removal company took advantage of more than 70 temporary foreign workers – charging them higher rent than allowed, requiring them to pay for their international transportation and demanding payment to keep their jobs – all in violation of the federal H-2B Visa program. The program helps supply employers with temporary foreign workers when sufficient numbers of U.S.

CINCINNATI, OH – A Cincinnati pastor who collected $121,344 in pension funds and Social Security benefits under his deceased father’s name for more than four years will serve 180 days home confinement, and 3 years’ probation after pleading guilty in federal court in Ohio on Sept. 30, 2020.

HARTFORD, CT – Two Fairfield County restaurants and their owners were required to pay $137,465 in back wages and liquidated damages to workers after U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigations found that the employers violated the minimum wage and overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

NEW YORK – A Long Island-based petroleum barge company and three former and current management officials have paid $375,000 in restitution to the brother of one of two seamen killed in a barge explosion off the coast of Texas. The seaman alleged the company fired him for cooperating with investigators and reporting safety concerns to the U.S. Coast Guard. The explosion occurred on Oct. 20, 2017, off Port Aransas aboard the Buster Bouchard/B. No. 255.

NEW YORK – A Long Island superstructure, foundation and concrete company will pay $135,612 in penalties stemming from the collapse of an approximately 30-foot deep trench in Oyster Bay that led to the deaths of two workers.

HOUSTON – In January 2019, a worker at a Holiday Inn Express & Suites hotel in Waller alerted their employer that exposure to carbon monoxide made them ill and asked the employer to call an ambulance. In addition to refusing the worker’s request, the employer allegedly threatened to terminate the employee. After going to the hospital, the worker was terminated.

NILES, MI – A recent court order requires one of the nation’s largest traffic control companies to pay road flaggers in Indiana, Michigan and Ohio for time they spend transporting their co-workers in a company truck to and from job sites at the company’s request.

TRAVERSE CITY, MI – The H-2B Visa program exists to help supply employers with temporary foreign workers they need while protecting U.S. workers’ access to the same jobs. The program does not permit employers to misuse the program and not pay foreign and U.S. workers the same legally required wages.

CHICAGO – Kitchen staff worked countless hours making authentic dishes like Banh Mi and Pho for a fixed salary while co-workers serving customers seeking Vietnamese cuisine at a popular Chicago restaurant often worked for tips only.

ST. PAUL – Twin Cities’ area shoppers know about Supermercado Lomabonita’s five locations, but they may not know that a recent U.S. Department of Labor investigation found the grocer failed to pay overtime to its cooks, butchers, bakers and cashiers as required by law.

AZLE, TX – The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas has sentenced a former secretary-treasurer of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen Division 620 in Azle for embezzlement after an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.

On Jan. 29, 2021, the court sentenced Edward C. Davis, Jr. to 6 months incarceration and 3 years supervised release. Davis must also pay $61,386 in restitution.

MAUMEE, OH – While records at Journey Through Life Care Services LLC showed the Maumee health care service provider paid employees legally required state minimum wage plus time-and-a-half for overtime, federal investigators found the employer regularly failed to pay its employees overtime wages – sometimes paying a mere 50 cents per hour more for hours over 40 in a workweek.

KANSAS CITY, MO – The U.S. Department of Labor filed a complaint in U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas against Wichita, Kansas-based Medova Healthcare Financial Group LLC, its president and CEO Daniel L. Whitney, chief operating officer Michelle Willson and Midlands Casualty Insurance Co. Inc.

INDIANAPOLIS, IN – BSN Sports LLC Indianapolis will pay $600,000 in back pay and interest to more than 3,000 job applicants at its Indianapolis, Indiana, production facility as part an agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) to resolve alleged hiring discrimination.

NEW YORK, NY – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) has entered into an Early Resolution Conciliation Agreement with JP Morgan Chase & Co., resolving allegations that the financial institution engaged in systemic compensation discrimination against female employees in certain professional positions, and establishes enhanced future compliance commitments.

BOSTON, MA – A federal court in Massachusetts has issued a temporary restraining order against two construction contractors and a representative of one of the companies to prevent retaliation or discrimination after the defendants began a campaign of alleged threats and retaliation against an employee who complained about not receiving overtime pay and requested money he was due.

MANCHESTER, NH – The U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire has ordered C & C Flooring LLC and owner Christopher Coburn to pay 33 current and former employees a total of $240,000 in back wages and liquidated damages and $10,000 in punitive damages, to resolve violations of the overtime and anti-retaliation provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The defendants have also paid a civil money penalty of $13,688 for the willful nature of the violations.

NEW YORK, NY – The U.S. Department of Labor has executed a region wide corporate settlement agreement with Target Corp. to correct exit access and storage hazards and enhance worker safety at about 200 of the retailer’s stores in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York.

NEW YORK, NY – The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York has ordered the trustees of four benefit plans for United Derrickmen & Riggers Association, Local Union 197, in Long Island City, New York, to restore $475,000 to the plans, pay a $95,000 penalty to the U.S. Department of Labor and take other corrective actions to resolve violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).