LINCOLN, NE – A federal court has issued an order holding a Nebraska roofing contractor — who has stalled federal investigators for nearly a year — in contempt of court and imposing a fine of $100 a day if he fails to comply with a subpoena to provide the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration with documents necessary for an investigation of an employee's fall off a residential roof in Lincoln in February 2023.

FOREST PARK, IL – For the fourth time since 2007, Proviso Township High School District 209 has been found in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act, this time for failing to pay public school security guards overtime wages.

HARTFORD, CT – After an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor, a federal court entered a consent judgment requiring a government contractor based in New Bern, North Carolina, to pay a total of $13,085 in back pay and punitive damages to an employee for violating the anti-retaliation provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. 

NEW YORK – In March 2020, as COVID-19 became a global pandemic, an employee of a Staten Island community health center asked permission to allow a regularly scheduled meeting to be held by teleconference – and then changed the format of the meeting to teleconference – rather than meeting in-person in a windowless conference room.

Date of Action:          January 8, 2024

Type of Action:         Complaint

Company:                  iProcess Online Inc. and Chief Operating Officer and Human Resources Director Michelle Leach-Bard 

HAMMOND, IN – The owner and manager of a Hobart restaurant must pay $78,799 in back wages and liquidated damages to 13 workers after federal investigators found they coerced the employees to return monies they agreed to pay following an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division in 2021.

Date of Action:          Jan. 8, 2024

Type of Action:         Complaint

Defendants:               Jones Dykstra and Associates Inc.

BOSTON – The U.S. Department of Labor has filed a complaint in federal court in Boston, alleging that 25 Massachusetts skilled nursing facilities in 21 communities intentionally withheld overtime wages to at least 624 employees and failed to maintain accurate employment records.

BOSTON – The Massachusetts Board of Building Regulations and Standards has revoked William Trahant’s construction supervisor’s license for at least two years as the result of a complaint filed by the U.S. Department of Labor citing seven separate citations issued to his company since 2014 for violating federal fall safety regulations, as well as his continued failure to pay more than $300,000 in related penalties.

HASTINGS, NE – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $230,000 for 545 workers at a Hastings meat processing plant that were denied compensation for pre- and post-shift work such as donning and removing protective gear and equipment cleaning time.

Date of action:                       Sept. 28, 2023            

WHEELING, WV – The U.S. Department of Labor has reached a settlement agreement to resolve litigation following a March 2022 investigation at a work site in Wheeling that resulted in a dozen citations issued against an Ohio-based contractor with an extensive history of exposing workers to deadly falls.

Date of action:           Dec. 8, 2023

Type of action:          Order granting Department of Labor’s motion to intervene

CHICAGO – A joint investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor and the Illinois Office of the Attorney General has recovered $3 million in back wages, damages and interest for 283 workers denied overtime owed under federal and state regulations by an Elk Grove meat processing and packaging plant.

RICHFIELD, MN – The U.S. Department of Labor has filed a lawsuit to recover more than $508,000 in back wages and liquidated damages owed to employees of two Richfield grocery stores whose operators paid them an “artificially” low hourly rate to make it appear the employers paid the proper overtime rate.

BOSTON – In a complaint filed in Vermont federal court, the U.S. Department of Labor has alleged that a Milton excavation company retaliated against an employee in social media posts after the company’s workers received back wages and damages in 2023, resulting from an investigation into the employer’s pay practices.

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – The owner and operator of four western Michigan convenience stores agreed to pay $36,528 in back wages and damages to 13 workers to resolve a lawsuit brought by the U.S.

Employers:    Detroit Body Guards Protection Unit LLC

                        Carla Bland, human resources director

Actions:          Fair Labor Standards Act complaint filing

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

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – A federal court in Michigan has ordered the owner of a Haslett assisted living facility, 

who allegedly threatened to fire three employees after she suspected they cooperated with a U.S. Department of Labor investigation, to attend training on federal anti-retaliation regulations and pay back wages and damages.

WASHINGTON – When a group of bakery distribution drivers filed a lawsuit alleging that Bimbo Foods Bakeries Distribution LLC owed them overtime compensation and misclassified them as independent contractors rather than employees covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act, the company countersued the workers.