NEWARK, N.J. — For too long, a hard day's work for United Airlines' baggage handlers at Newark Liberty International Airport meant unnecessary pain and the risk of debilitating injuries caused by lifting customer baggage using awkward postures. From 2011 to January 2015, the airline's baggage handlers reported at least 622 musculoskeletal injuries.

PASSAIC, N.J. – Fifty-five low-wage production workers who spend long work days sewing and loading mattresses at a Passaic mattress refurbishment company will soon receive their share of $292,998 in back wages and liquidated damages after the company entered into a consent judgment with the U.S. Department of Labor.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration found a Dudley contract packager failed to inform the agency as required that a temporary worker needed hospitalization after he sustained a serious injury on May 26, 2016. Even worse, the employer failed to contact emergency medical services immediately when the injury occurred.

BUFFALO, N.Y. – The owner of three Buffalo-area gas stations has paid a total of $84,000 in back wages and damages to 41 employees after an investigation by the Buffalo area office of U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division.

Lakhwinder Gill – the owner of the Angola Food Mart Inc. (Angola), LHP Food Mart Inc. (Buffalo) and Lake Shore Mini Mart, Inc. (Hamburg) gas stations – will also pay $1,000 in civil monetary penalties.

NEW YORK – A Queens-based operator of residential nursing homes and adult care facilities will pay a total of $2,006,796 in back wages and liquidated damages to 844 underpaid employees at five locations in eastern New York following a federal investigation of alleged violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

BOSTON – For several years, inspections by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration identified a disturbing pattern of defective forklifts being used to move, handle, load and unload freight in at least 11 Central Transport LLC shipping terminals in nine states.

NEW YORK – A Garden City restaurant and catering hall will pay a total of $285,800 in back wages and liquidated damages to 24 underpaid employees to resolve violations of the minimum wage, overtime and recordkeeping requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The company will also pay $24,200 in civil money penalties to the U.S. Department of Labor and take corrective action to prevent future violations as part of a consent judgment filed with the U.S.

Date of Action: Nov. 17, 2016

Type of Action: Lawsuit

Name of Defendants:Tango Bakery Inc., doing business as Tango Bakery
Adrian Gordillo-Ross
Sergio Mendoza

BOSTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited Florida-based Walker International Events on Feb. 4, 2016, for 14 serious violations of workplace safety standards in connection with a circus tent collapse in Lancaster, New Hampshire on Aug. 3, 2015, during a severe thunderstorm.

LANSDOWNE, Pa. – An administrative law judge recently affirmed nine cited federal safety and health violations and assessed $344,960 in fines against Lansdowne masonry contractor, J.C. Stucco and Stone. This follows a March 2016, hearing  regarding six willful and three repeat citations issued after two 2014 inspections by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

NEW YORK – Sixty-three workers employed on the federally funded reconstruction of Chambers Street between Broadway and West St. in Lower Manhattan will receive a total of $1,190,861 in back wages following an investigation and litigation by the U.S. Department of Labor, in keeping with a consent order  approved by the department’s Office of Administrative Law Judges.

Date of Action: Nov. 15, 2016

Type of Action: Consent judgment

Name of Defendants: Puerto Rico Police Department
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico

ARLINGTON, Va. – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration has successfully obtained a permanent injunction against Sullivan Granite Co. LLC and its owner, Conrad J. Smith, ordering him to correct all safety hazards at Brown’s Meadow Quarry in Sullivan, Maine, and prohibiting him from refusing agency inspectors entry to conduct safety inspections.

OAKDALE, Minn. – A Minnesota company that provided cable equipment recovery services to leading cable providers such as Comcast, Time Warner and Charter Communications, will pay $350,000 to drivers and market contractors misclassified as independent contractors to resolve a U.S. Department of Labor lawsuit.  

WASHINGTON — The application period for the fall 2015 Honors Program in the Office of the Solicitor at the U.S. Department of Labor is underway. The program provides challenging professional opportunities for outstanding law school graduates with a passion for public service.

WASHINGTON — Judge William L. Osteen Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina has accepted the North Carolina Growers Association's motion to terminate its challenge to the regulation governing the H-2A temporary agricultural worker labor certification program. The H-2A program permits agricultural employers to bring foreign workers into the U.S. on a temporary basis if domestic workers are not available and the use of foreign workers will not adversely affect the wages or working conditions of U.S. workers.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor will hold a public forum on Dec. 18, 2006, from 10 a.m. to noon to discuss and seek public input on its Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) processes. The meeting will be in the department's auditorium at 200 Constitution Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C.

Program Designed to Correct Misinformation about Stronger Worker Protections

WASHINGTON—In a nationwide teleconference sponsored by the American Bar Association this week, Solicitor of Labor Howard Radzely announced a new Overtime Security Amicus Program at the Department of Labor. The Department is establishing this program to counter an unprecedented misinformation campaign against the stronger worker protections contained in the new rule.