PITTSBURGH –  The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $65,640 in back wages and liquidated damages for three workers at two Pittsburgh-area gas station and convenience stores after its investigation found the employer had a history of shortchanging workers and violating federal overtime laws.

SINKING SPRING, PA – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment requiring a Sinking Spring home healthcare agency and its operator– which intentionally misclassified workers as independent contractors and misapplied an overtime rule to avoid paying full wages – to pay 75 caregiver employees a total of $293,990 in back wages and liquidated damages.

INDIANAPOLIS – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $92,326 in back wages and liquidated damages for 18 workers whose employer paid them a fixed weekly rate to stock shelves, serve customers at meat counters and operate cash registers at three LaCanasta Grocery stores in Indianapolis.

Employer:                                      American Pizza Empire LLC

PERRY, OH – An Ohio nursery owner’s history of violations, coupled with allegations that they intimidated and threatened workers, and denied them their full wages, has led the U.S. Department of Labor to assess $76,278, in penalties and to debar the Perry employer from participating in the federal agricultural visa program for three years.

ORLANDO, FL – Investigations by the U.S. Department of Labor of 11 central Florida heating, ventilation and air conditioning contractors have recovered more than $113,000 in back wages and liquidated damages for 169 workers whose employers’ illegal pay practices denied them their full wages.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor is offering online compliance seminars for contracting agencies, contractors, unions, workers and other stakeholders on the requirements governing payment of prevailing wages on federally funded construction and service contracts.

GUAYNABO, PR – While 62 employees at two hospice care centers in Puerto Rico provided vital services to comfort terminally ill people and their families, a U.S. Department of Labor investigation has found their employer’s pay practices hurt their ability to care for themselves and their families.

GUAYNABO, PR – Mientras 62 empleados en dos centros de cuidados paliativos de Puerto Rico brindaban servicios esenciales para que los pacientes terminales y sus familias se sintieran cómodos, el Departamento de Trabajo de los Estados Unidos realizó una investigación y descubrió que las prácticas salariales de sus empleadores perjudicaban la capacidad de los empleados de cuidar de sí mismos y de sus familias.

ANN ARBOR, MI –The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division and the Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office have signed a three-year Memorandum of Understanding to establish a formal partnership to enforce workers’ rights, conduct joint investigations and outreach efforts, and share information.

SOUTHAVEN, MS – The operator of five Wing Stop franchise locations in Mississippi who made employees pay for their uniforms, safety training, background checks and cash register shortages – and violated child labor regulations – has been held  accountable by the U.S. Department of Labor, and paid $114,427 in back wages, liquidated damages and civil penalties.

MINNEAPOLIS – After a federal investigation found a Golden Valley franchisee of a national chain of home healthcare providers failed to pay overtime to certified nursing and patient care assistants as required by law – and then attempted to mask the violations – the U.S. Department of Labor has filed a complaint in federal court in Minneapolis to recover back wages and damages.

PITTSBURGH – In return for providing essential homecare for people in need, 218 workers employed by a Pittsburgh-based home care agency expected their employer to pay them all their hard-earned wages. Instead, they found their employer denied them overtime wages, and manipulated records to hide the wage theft.     

Employer:                                        Wooden Shoe Farms

Investigation site:                       673 North 825 West

ROCHESTER, NY – A federal investigation has recovered $228,379 in back wages for 260 employees of a Rochester-based home healthcare agency that denied them overtime for hours over 40 in a workweek.

HEBRON, KY – The initial discovery of illegal pay practices at a Hebron, Kentucky, warehouse by the U.S. Department of Labor led to a broader investigation that found systemic overtime violations by a California-based warehouse operator and e-commerce distributor, and a determination that the employer owes $1,025,909 in back wages to 995 warehouse workers in Kentucky and California.

NUEVA ORLEANS - Una investigación federal sobre cheques de nómina rechazados de 10 trabajadores de la construcción que renovaban un hogar para ancianos en Panama City, Florida descubrió que el empleador que emitía los cheques inválidos también negaba a más de 800 trabajadores los salarios por horas extras al clasificarlos como contratistas independientes.

NEW ORLEANS – A federal investigation into the bounced payroll checks of 10 construction workers renovating a nursing home in Panama City, Florida, found the employer who issued the bad checks had also denied more than 800 workers overtime wages by misclassifying them as independent contractors.

NEW ORLEANS – The U.S. Department of Labor has found that the wages of hundreds of painters and drywall workers employed by a Louisiana contractor on construction projects, including work at New Orleans’ Superdome, were tackled for a loss when their employer misclassified the workers as independent contractors, a common industry violation.

WASHINGTON –The U.S. Department of Labor will begin a series of events in August to highlight the importance of maternal health and workplace protections for expectant and new mothers as the country marks National Breastfeeding Month.