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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. 

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.

PHOENIX – A federal court has ordered a Phoenix industrial laundry and dry-cleaning company to pay a total of $281,870 after the U.S. Department of Labor found the employer engaged in a kickback scheme after the department recovered more than $94,135 in overtime wages for 70 workers in 2020. 

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.

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

                        3385 W. Eighth St.

Empleador:    Macarios Inc., Los Primos Inc., Dos Oros Inc., operando como Mayan Mexican Restaurant

                        4520 Pacific Ave. SE

Employer:      Macarios Inc., Los Primos Inc., Dos Oros Inc., operating as Mayan Mexican Restaurant

                        4520 Pacific Ave. SE

BOSTON – A federal court in Boston has entered a consent judgment ordering a New Jersey-based framing contractor to pay 61 construction employees $283,492 in back wages and liquidated damages and $46,507 in punitive damages to two former employees, allegedly fired for cooperating with U.S. Department of Labor investigators. 

Employers:    Great Lakes Care Companions Inc., Juan G. Salazar, owner

Actions:          Fair Labor Standards Act consent order and judgment

Courts:           U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan 

HEBRON, KY – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a federal consent judgment that requires the operator of a Hebron warehouse and distribution center to stop employing children illegally and to not violate federal child labor laws in the future.

Employer name:       LOOPX LLC 

Investigation site:   146 Industry Road Independence, LA 70443

DEDEDO, GUAM – The U.S. Department of Labor has debarred a federal subcontractor on Guam from seeking federally funded contracts after the department’s Wage and Hour Division found the employer shortchanged 29 construction workers at Marine Corps Base Camp Blaz in Dededo and gave investigators falsified records.

Employer:      JRKT Enterprises LLC, operating as Subway

                        12835 Bel-Red Road, Suite 100

CHANDLER, MN – A national food manufacturer paid $140,164 in civil money penalties after the U.S. Department of Labor found the company employed at least 11 children – nine of whom operated hazardous machinery – at its meatpacking and food processing facility in Chandler, Minnesota.

CHICAGO – After failing to satisfy repeated requests to cooperate with investigators with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, two business operators in Illinois and Minnesota must now answer to federal courts in Chicago and Minneapolis after the department filed petitions to enforce its administrative subpoenas for records.

CHICAGO – The U.S. Department of Labor has filed suit against a Chicago security company, American Public Defense Inc.

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – The U.S. Department of Labor has filed suit against the operator and owner of four western Michigan 7-Eleven convenience stores after an investigation found payroll records were inaccurate, paid employees “off the books” and failed to pay them overtime.