WASHINGTON – A federal appeals court has ruled unanimously that the operator of a Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, coal mine violated the federal Mine Safety and Health Act more than a decade ago by giving underground miners advance notice that mine inspectors were conducting an inspection.

PROVIDENCE, RI – Four Ocean State medical facilities in Providence and West Greenwich, and their owner and operator, will pay $175,000 in back wages and liquidated damages to 103 employees to resolve violations of federal overtime requirements, after an investigation and litigation by the U.S. Department of Labor. The employer will also pay $50,000 in civil money penalties.

CHICAGO – The U.S. Department of Labor has filed a complaint and has asked a federal court to issue a temporary restraining order against a Huntley restaurant and its owners for retaliating and intimidating workers illegally during an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division.

LYNDHURST, NJ – Week after week, a worker at Advantix Logistics Corp. kept finding paychecks short of their expectations. After several complaints to a supervisor, the company responded by firing the worker. When the worker raised concerns that the final paycheck did not include all wages earned, the company threatened continued retaliation.

EAST ORANGE, NJ – The U.S. Department of Labor and an East Orange medical transport services contractor has reached a settlement agreement after a federal investigation found violations of the McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act.

BAYVILLE, NJ - Following a U.S. Department of Labor investigation, an administrative law judge ordered a commercial landscaping company based in Bayville to pay 47 temporary landscaping workers $181,670.19 in back wages. The employer will also pay $38,329.81 in civil money penalties.

Date of action: April 4, 2022

Type of action: Complaint and motion for temporary restraining order

Court: U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky

Names of defendants: Z4 Fuels LLC, doing business as Chavies Food Mart, and owner, Parvez Khutliwala, and manager, Rahim Ali

Date of action:           April 1, 2022

Type of action:           Preliminary Injunction

Names of defendants:  Chinatown Supermarket LLC

WASHINGTON – Solicitor of Labor Seema Nanda today issued a statement on the Department of Labor’s filing of an amicus in a case now before the National Labor Relations Board. The brief argues the validity of a confidentiality provision in a mandatory arbitration agreement imposed on employees by Ralph’s Grocery Company.

“Confidentiality agreements pose a direct threat to effective enforcement of the country’s worker protection laws.

ALBANY, NY – The U.S. Department of Labor filed suit against a New York ophthalmologist and his practice in Amsterdam for allegedly firing an employee who raised concerns about the practice’s failure to implement state-mandated protocols to protect employees from COVID-19, and later filed complaints with state health officials.

HARTFORD, CT – A federal court entered a consent order that requires two Fairfield County restaurants and their owners – who used threats of retaliation to coerce nine workers to kick back thousands of dollars of back wages and liquidated damages recovered by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division – to pay $150,000 to those employees.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division signed a memorandum of understanding today to strengthen the partnership between the two agencies to protect workers from employer collusion, ensure compliance with the labor laws and promote competitive labor markets and worker mobility.

BOSTON – Following an investigation and litigation by the U.S. Department of Labor, a federal court ordered a Holbrook tree service company and its owner – who threatened a former employee who participated in an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division – to pay the worker $25,000 in punitive damages.

YOUNGSTOWN, OH – A federal judge ordered American Made Bags LLC in Akron and its owner to pay a total of $189,756 – $94,893 in back wages and an equal amount in damages – to 48 employees after two separate federal investigations found numerous illegal pay practices.

KANSAS CITY, MO – After long days spent toiling in fields under a hot Missouri sun, immigrant workers returned to what was once a county jail where their employer housed them in unsanitary living conditions and added to their misery by failing to pay them the wages they earned under their contract.

CHICAGO – The U.S. Department of Labor has asked a federal court in Illinois to hold fiduciaries of the United Employee Benefit Fund, along with its counsel, liable for more than $2.8 million in losses after an investigation found they allowed the misappropriation of the fund’s assets. A Chicago-based multiple employer welfare arrangement, UEBF provides life insurance benefits to about 63 nationwide employer-sponsored benefit plans.

LAUREL RUN, PA – An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor recovered $221,307 in back wages and damages for 32 nursing staff employees of a Luzerne County treatment center found to be intentionally shortchanging workers of their overtime pay repeatedly.

Date of action:                       Feb. 22, 2022

Type of action:                      Complaint

FORT WAYNE, IN – The operator of seven Fort Wayne area restaurants shortchanged 17 of its managers when the salary it paid was determined to be insufficient to relieve the employer of its overtime obligations. This led to a violation of overtime pay requirements when employees worked more than 40 hours in a workweek, a U.S. Department of Labor investigation has found.

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Every day, millions of careworkers tend to the vital needs of people in communities nationwide. They work long hours and put themselves at risk amid the pandemic, yet they are among the nation’s lowest paid workers. Their jobs are made even more difficult when employers fail to pay them all their rightfully earned wages.