WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the withdrawal – effective May 6 – of the “Independent Contractor Rule,” to maintain workers’ rights to the minimum wage and overtime compensation protections of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

FRANKLIN, TN – A Franklin lawn care company has paid $39,373 in back wages to 31 workers following an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor that found the employer violated the overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act.  

ATLANTA – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division has teamed up with the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration to offer a series of “Essential Workers – Essential Protections” webinars to educate employees and employers on critical workplace protections afforded to them under federal law. The webinars detail the workplace rights of people who have been keeping the country moving throughout the pandemic.

KANSAS CITY, KS – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, its Occupational Safety and Health Administration and its Employee Benefits Security Administration will host representatives of the IRS, the U.S. Small Business Administration and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to present a series of webinars for Kansas City-area employers and human resources professionals on each agency’s continued response during the coronavirus pandemic.

LORAIN, OH – Employers that hire temporary foreign workers must pay their international transportation and meal expenses while they travel from their home country, a federal requirement that a Lorain landscaping company violated when it left the workers it hired to pay their own way to the U.S.

SAND SPRINGS, OK – Los inspectores de oleoductos trabajan muchas horas realizando labores críticas, manteniendo seguras más de 2,6 millones de millas de tuberías en el país, y protegiendo a las comunidades cercanas. Cuando las tuberías fallan, el daño puede ser catastrófico para las comunidades, la economía y el medio ambiente. Las industrias del petróleo y del gas dependen de empresas de inspección independientes para proteger esta infraestructura esencial.

SAND SPRINGS, OK – Oilfield pipeline inspectors work long hours performing critical work, keeping more than 2.6 million miles of pipe in the U.S. secure and the communities around them safe. When pipelines explode, the damage can be catastrophic to communities, economies and the environment. The oil and gas industry depends on independent inspection companies to protect this essential infrastructure.

STREAMWOOD, IL – An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division recovered $144,775 in overtime back wages for 14 employees of the Fiesta Market Inc. based in Streamwood.

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced a final rule delaying portions of the 2020 Tip final rule until Dec. 31, 2021.

LAVONIA, GA – A Lavonia restaurant’s decision to require its tipped servers to work for tips only by requiring them to cash their paychecks and return their cash wages led to the recovery of $123,869 in back wages for three workers following a U.S. Department of Labor investigation.

IOTA, LA – Cada año, la industria de cangrejos de río en Luisiana depende de trabajadores extranjeros temporales que junto a trabajadores estadounidenses realizan, de enero a julio, las labores necesarias para garantizar una buena cosecha. Ellos reparan, construyen, colocan y retiran las trampas en los campos, reparan diques y tuberías, limpian el equipamiento e inundan y drenan los campos. Todo esto se hace para producir el 95% de los pequeños crustáceos consumidos por los estadounidenses anualmente.

IOTA, LA – Each year, Louisiana’s crawfish industry depends on temporary foreign workers who work alongside U.S. workers, from January to July, doing the many jobs needed to ensure a good harvest. They repair and build traps, flood fields, lay and recover traps from fields, repair levees and pipes, and drain and clean equipment and fields, all to supply 95 percent of the small crustaceans that Americans consume annually.

INDIANAPOLIS – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division and its Occupational Safety and Health Administration will host representatives of the IRS, the U.S. Small Business Administration and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to present a series of webinars for Indiana-area employers and human resources professionals on each agency’s continued response during the coronavirus pandemic.

NEW PORT RICHEY, FL – Following a U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigation, Joey’s New York Pizza LLC – operating as Joey’s New York Pizza & Italian Restaurant – has paid $74,955 in back wages to 31 workers to resolve overtime violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

SALEM, OR – After a hard day spent loading Christmas trees into delivery trucks bound for homes and offices nationwide, 16 migrant workers packed into a van. As they headed home, a pick-up truck suddenly and violently slammed into the van’s side at a Salem intersection. The collision killed three farmworkers and hospitalized several others with severe injuries.

SPOKANE, WA – Among its many responsibilities, a general contractor has a duty to make sure all of its subcontractors pay workers on federally funded projects all of the wages they have legally earned.

FORT WASHINGTON, PA – A Fort Washington organization that employed at-risk teens to peddle candy and other items door-to-door is alleged to have violated federal child labor laws. 

BOYNTON BEACH, FL – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division works hard to help employers understand that violating federal labor laws can be costly, a lesson a Boynton Beach-based residential construction contractor has learned.

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Labor is extending an invitation to teens, parents, educators, employers and other interested stakeholders to join a national online dialogue through April 30 to gather ideas on how the department can connect with teens better.

OLIVER SPRINGS, TN – Fifty workers misclassified as independent contractors by an Oliver Springs home health care service provider received a total of $358,675 in back wages to resolve overtime violations found in a U.S. Department of Labor investigation.