DEDEDO, GUAM – Heavy equipment operators often work long hard days outdoors to meet deadlines and complete projects on schedule. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division exists to ensure that their employers pay them the wages they have legally earned, and takes action when they do not.

EAST ST. LOUIS, IL – After a long shift patrolling the streets of East St. Louis together, the city’s K-9 unit police officers returned home and groomed, fed and cared for their trusted furry, four-legged partners. While these officers are legally entitled to be paid for this additional work, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division has found the City of East St.

HAGATNA, GUAM – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division is asking Guam’s building, residential, heavy and highway construction employers to help the agency establish accurate rates and complete wage determination by participating in a prevailing wage survey.

MEDFORD, OR – Diners at Misoya Bistro in Medford were likely unaware that, for nearly two years, the owner was withholding nearly all of their workers’ tips.

LAKELAND, FL – Piece-rate pay practices make workers’ paychecks solely dependent on the amount of work produced, regardless of how many hours are worked. When using these practices, however, employers must still comply with the Fair Labor Standards Act and record all hours worked, pay minimum wage and overtime when applicable.

FAYETTEVILLE, NC – Hotels commonly pay housekeepers on a piece-rate basis, often basing their pay on the number of rooms they cleaned or tasks they accomplished. When that approach allows workers’ wages to fall below the federal minimum wage, the employer has violated the Fair Labor Standards Act.

MANCHESTER, NH – The operator of two specialty grocery stores in New Hampshire and Maine, has paid $27,274 in civil money penalties to the U.S. Department of Labor after an investigation found that the employer employed minors to clean power-driven meat mixers and grinders. Federal child labor laws prohibit employees under 18 from cleaning or operating these machines.

GALLATIN, TN – A Mississippi-based plumbing, heating, ventilation and air conditioning contractor with 10 Southeast locations and nearly 75 years of experience has learned that federal contract wage violations can be costly.

MANCHESTER, NH – A North Carolina-based tree thinning contractor who employed foreign forestry workers in Maine as fir-tippers has paid a total of $55,810 in civil money penalties to the U.S. Department of Labor to resolve violations of federal laws protecting migrant and seasonal workers, and preventing adverse conditions for U.S. workers. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Administrative Law Judges ordered the resolution in a decision and order approving consent findings.

COLUMBIA, MD – A Columbia plumbing subcontractor working on a federally funded project in Washington, D.C. failed to pay workers all the wages they earned, until a U.S. Department of Labor investigation recovered $50,088 in back wages and benefits for four employees. 

CHICAGO – The operators of a Chicago towing company that promises customers round-the-clock service failed to pay dozens of its workers legally for the hours they worked providing emergency road service. 

MANCHESTER, NH – Pizza shops rely on drivers to make timely deliveries to their customers. These drivers depend on their employers to pay them their hard-earned wages, as the law requires. When Checkmate Pizza in Concord and Londonderry failed to deliver all the wages drivers had earned, the U.S. Department of Labor stepped in.

SEATTLE – Pipe fitters, electricians, forklift operators and carpenters working on two separate federally funded contracts on Naval Base Kitsap failed to receive the prevailing wages and benefits required for their occupations because their employer classified them incorrectly as lower-compensated general laborers.

NORTH CHARLESTON, SC – Some employees may not understand fully how federal law protects them if their employer fails to pay them as the Fair Labor Standards Act requires, as workers at two North Charleston-area food stores have learned.

CLARKSBURG, TN – When the owners of a Clarksburg supermarket allowed two 16-year-old employees to clean a meat grinder, disaster soon struck. As one boy reached inside the machine, the grinder started and amputated the teenager’s right forearm.

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

HARRISBURG, PA – When an employer shortchanges home healthcare workers they hurt the workers, their families and the people for whom they care. In the case of a Harrisburg home healthcare company, a U.S. Department of Labor investigation has remedied overtime violations involving 242 workers and recovered $1,566,457 in hard-earned wages owed to them.

SAN DIEGO – Aunque una empresa de construcción del Sur de California pagó a sus empleados las primeras 40 horas trabajadas cada semana de acuerdo con la Ley de Normas Razonables de Trabajo,  una investigación federal encontró que las prácticas del empleador respecto al

ST. LOUIS, MO – The federal Family and Medical Leave Act entitles workers to take unpaid, job-protected leave to care for their own or a family member’s serious health condition, so when a St. Louis metal finishing company terminated an employee on protected FMLA leave without notice, the U.S. Department of Labor intervened.

SAN DIEGO – While the way a Southern California construction company paid employees the first 40 hours each week complied with the Fair Labor Standards Act, federal investigators found the employer’s overtime pay practices did not.