December 3, 2024

Department of Labor obtains consent judgment ordering 2 healthcare staffing companies to pay a total of more than $2.4M in back wages, liquidated damages to 341 employees

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment and order in federal court that recovers a total of more than $2.4 million in back wages and liquidated damages from Massachusetts and Pennsylvania healthcare staffing agencies that denied 341 employees overtime wages, including employees misclassified as independent contractors

December 3, 2024

US Department of Labor announces proposed rule to phase out certificates allowing payment of less than minimum wage to workers with disabilities

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced a proposed rule that would phase out the issuance of certificates allowing employers to pay some workers with disabilities less than the federal minimum wage, currently $7.25 per hour, for the work they perform.

October 22, 2024

US Department of Labor recovers more than $1B in wages, damages for 615,000 workers under Biden-Harris administration

WASHINGTON –The Biden-Harris administration today announced that the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division recovered more than $1 billion in back wages and damages for our nation’s workers since the start of the Biden-Harris administration. The recoveries derive from investigations concluded by the division from Jan. 20, 2021, through Sept. 30, 2024.

October 15, 2024

Department of Labor to hold online seminars for current, prospective federal contractors on prevailing wage requirements in fiscal year 2025

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor announced today that its Wage and Hour Division will offer online seminars for contractors, contracting agencies, unions, workers and other stakeholders on prevailing wage requirements in fiscal year 2025 for federally funded construction and service contracts.

October 1, 2024

US Department of Labor, New Jersey Department of Labor strategic enforcement initiative combats illegal child labor

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division and the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development have launched a joint strategic enforcement initiative to combat violations of federal and state child labor laws.

September 4, 2024

US Department of Labor obtains judgment requiring Pennsylvania in-home care agency to pay $1M to 193 employees denied minimum wage, overtime

LEBANON, PA – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a summary judgment in federal court in its effort to recover more than $1 million in back wages and liquidated damages for 193 employees of a Pennsylvania home care agency and its owner, which failed to pay workers required minimum and overtime wages.

August 26, 2024

US Department of Labor, Colombia establish partnership to protect Colombian citizens’ labor rights while working in US

WASHINGTON As the nation begins Labor Rights Week, the U.S. Department of Labor and the Republic of Colombia today announced the South American country has joined the Consular Partnership Program to raise awareness among Colombians working in the U.S. about regulations protecting them in America’s workplaces. 

August 23, 2024

Department of Labor, Mexican Embassy kick off Labor Rights Week 2024, commemorate Consular Partnership Program’s 20th anniversary

WASHINGTON – U.S. Department of Labor officials and representatives from the Mexican Embassy and other diplomatic missions joined today to mark Labor Rights Week 2024 with an event promoting migrant workers’ rights and how the department is safeguarding these rights. 

August 22, 2024

US Department of Labor obtains judgment ordering Pennsylvania restaurant, owner to pay $1.3M in back wages, withheld tips, liquidated damages

WILKES-BARRE, PA – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment to recover $1.3 million in back wages, withheld tips and liquidated damages for 51 workers employed by a Wilkes-Barre restaurant and its owner, whose pay practices illegally deprived workers of their full wages. 

August 6, 2024

Department of Labor offers online seminar on prevailing wages for employers, workers on federally funded projects Aug. 29

WASHINGTON – The Department of Labor today announced its Wage and Hour Division will offer contracting agencies, contractors, unions, workers and other stakeholders an opportunity to attend an online seminar on Aug. 29 on requirements for paying prevailing wages on federally funded construction and service contracts.

July 30, 2024

Federal court awards $35.8M in back wages, damages in historic recovery after investigation finds wage theft by Pennsylvania healthcare employers

PITTSBURGH – In one of the nation’s largest wage recovery judgments, a Pennsylvania federal court has awarded $35.8 million in overtime back wages and liquidated damages to 6,000 current and former workers employed by the operators of 15 residential skilled nursing, rehabilitation and assisted living facilities in western Pennsylvania that willfully denied them overtime pay.

July 25, 2024

US Department of Labor issues statement on United Airlines’ leave policies

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Administrator Jessica Looman issued the following statement in response to multiple inquiries regarding United Airlines’ leave policies:

July 25, 2024

US Department of Labor recovers more than $1.5M in back wages, damages for 430 HVAC technicians misclassified by Dallas-area company

DALLAS  In one of the largest recoveries of its kind, the U.S. Department of Labor has recouped more than $1.5 million in unpaid overtime wages and damages from a heating, ventilation and air conditioning company that deprived 430 technicians of their rights, protections and benefits under law by misclassifying them as independent contractors.

July 10, 2024

Department of Labor seeks court order to end IT staffing agency practices that exploit workers through a system akin to modern-day indentured servitude

NEW YORK – The U.S. Department of Labor has asked a federal court to stop improper employment practices by a Virginia-based IT staffing agency that bind employees to their jobs, extract huge sums from them if they leave the firm and forbid them from engaging in protected activity under federal law.

May 14, 2024

Department of Labor obtains judgment requiring Philadelphia-area home care employer to pay over $1M in overtime back wages, damages, penalties

COLLINGDALE, PA – The Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment in federal court that orders a Delaware County home care agency to pay more than $1 million in back wages, liquidated damages and penalties after the department found the employer shortchanged 159 workers of their earned wages. 

May 2, 2024

Department of Labor finds children employed illegally in dangerous jobs, obtains $4.8M in wages, damages for poultry industry workers in California

WASHINGTON – In one of the largest wage violation settlements ever reached for U.S. poultry workers, a federal court in Los Angeles has entered a consent judgment that orders Fu Qian Chen Lu, Bruce Shu Hua Lok and others as owners and operators of a network of California poultry processors and distributors to pay $4.8 million in back wages and damages to 476 workers and $221,919 in penalties after a U.S. Department of Labor investigation. 

April 26, 2024

US Department of Labor finalizes farmworker protection rule

WASHINGTON – The Department of Labor today announced a final rule to strengthen protections for farmworkers. The rule targets vulnerability and abuses experienced by workers under the H-2A program that undermine fair labor standards for all farmworkers in the U.S. 

April 25, 2024

Department of Labor will offer online wage seminars in May, August on prevailing wage requirements for federally funded projects

WASHINGTON – The Department of Labor today announced its Wage and Hour Division will offer contracting agencies, contractors, unions, workers and other stakeholders opportunities in May or August to attend an online seminar on meeting federal requirements for paying prevailing wages on federally funded construction and service contracts.