WASHINGTON – Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su and the U.S. Department of Labor today paid tribute to Larry Dulay Itliong, Philip Vera Cruz and Peter Gines Velasco, who led farmworkers to organize and stand up against powerful grape industry growers while fighting for higher wages, better working conditions and basic dignity for Filipino farmworkers by inducting them into the department’s Hall of Honor.

DEDEDO, GUAM – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $17,164 in back wages from a federal subcontractor who denied full wages and benefits to eight workers providing pest control services at U.S. Air Force and Navy installations on Guam.

Employer name:        Raymond’s Painting Co.

Investigation Site:     904 Hikina Lane

                                             Honolulu, HI 96817

Date of action:                       Aug. 4, 2022

Type of action:                      Joint stipulation, order for preliminary injunction

Employer:                                        Wooden Shoe Farms

Investigation site:                       673 North 825 West

SAN JOSE, CA – Denying their workers overtime pay when required has had costly consequences for the operators of six northern California pizza franchise locations from whom the U.S. Department of Labor has recovered a total of $608,272 in back wages and liquidated damages for 33 workers.

SEATTLE – A U.S. Department of Labor investigation that uncovered a farm labor contractor’s already costly failures to protect migrant and seasonal agricultural workers took an unexpected turn when investigators found the same employer had denied 165 farm laborers more than $80,000 in overtime wages for hours spent cleaning the popular Gorge Amphitheater.

Employer name:                   Commodity Sales Co.

Investigation site:                 517 S. Clarence St.

LAS VEGAS – A federal investigation has recovered $94,112 in back wages and liquidated damages for 33 workers of a Las Vegas construction company that denied them overtime wages by misclassifying the workers as independent contractors. The investigation also found that the employer denied a worker sick leave in violation of the Family First Coronavirus Response Act.

BOISE, ID – A federal investigation has determined that Professional Security Consultants Inc. – a Los Angeles-based security company that provides officers for shopping malls, schools, hotels, hospitals, office buildings and gated communities – repeatedly exposed its employees at the Boise Towne Square mall to workplace violence hazards and failed to follow its own procedures for interacting with armed individuals to enforce the mall’s code of conduct.

SEATTLE – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Puget Sound Shipbuilders Association in Seattle have renewed an alliance to continue a collaborative relationship that provides shipyard workers and companies with information about hazards and resources to promote safe, healthful workplaces and workers’ rights.

HONOLULU – A federal investigation recovered $153,070 in back wages and liquidated damages for 17 workers of a Honolulu bakery and café whose operator denied them their overtime wages and endangered the safety of minor-aged workers.

UNION CITY, CA – A federal investigation has recovered $176,193 in back wages for nine health care workers after the owner of four Bay Area residential care homes denied them overtime pay.

LAS VEGAS – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division is asking businesses in Nevada’s highway construction industries to complete a survey to help the division establish prevailing wage rates, as required by the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts.

SEATTLE – A federal investigation recovered $96,973 in back wages and liquidated damages from the operator of 11 frozen yogurt shops in Washington and Oregon who allowed store managers to take a portion of workers’ tips illegally, and failed to pay some workers overtime wages when they worked over 40 hours in a workweek. The employer also did not keep an accurate record of hours worked.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh issued the following statement on the Supreme Court ruling on the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s emergency temporary standard on vaccination and testing:

LOS ANGELES – Today, U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh visited the Port of Los Angeles to discuss the Biden-Harris administration’s historic economic growth and the easing of supply chain disruptions. Secretary Walsh provided remarks alongside leadership from the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, Rep. Nannette Barragán, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia.

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh issued the following statement on the August 2021 Employment Situation Report:

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh today issued a statement on Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s announcement that Glenn O. Hawbaker Inc. has today pleaded to and been sentenced for theft relating to violations of the Pennsylvania Prevailing Wage Act and the federal Davis-Bacon Act.

NEW ORLEANS – An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has found that CSX Transportation violated the Federal Railroad Safety Act and demonstrated a pattern of retaliation after firing a worker in December 2019 for reporting safety concerns. OSHA ordered the company to pay $71,976 in back wages, interest, and damages, and $150,000 in punitive damages.