BUFFALO, NY – On Jan. 20, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division will participate in a U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and Service Corps of Retired Executives’ (SCORE) event to provide information and resources to entrepreneurs and small business owners on starting or growing a small business. 

The “Straight Talk 2018” seminar, sponsored by the SBA’s Buffalo District Office and SCORE’s Buffalo Niagara chapter, will be held at Buffalo Niagara Convention Center, Convention Center Plaza, in Buffalo, from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

HARTFORD, CT – The U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut has entered a consent judgment and ordered a Fairfield restaurant and its owner to pay $244,930 in back wages and liquidated damages to eight employees, as part of a settlement with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division.

VIDALIA, GA – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division will host free compliance assistance seminars for Georgia agricultural employers and farm labor contractors to promote compliance with the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA) and the labor provisions of the H-2A temporary worker program.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Following a U.S. Department of Labor investigation, a Riverside, California, company has paid $944,000 in back wages and damages to 1,069 employees working as drywall installers and painters. The investigation found that the employees routinely worked more than 40 hours per week without receiving any required overtime pay.

DENVER, CO – Parkside Landscape Inc. has paid $524,063 in back wages to 53 employees and $26,104 in penalties to resolve violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and H-2B non-agricultural visa program provisions. The violations were found during an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division.

WASHINGTON, DC – On Dec. 19, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit became the fourth federal appellate court to expressly reject the U.S. Department of Labor’s six-part test for determining whether interns and students are employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). 

SEATTLE, WA – The U.S. Department of Labor has reached an agreement with a Tacoma property management company that requires the employer to pay 71 employees $255,793 in back wages to resolve Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) violations.

LOS ANGELES, CA – Investigations in Southern California by the U.S. Department of Labor have found $1.6 million in back wages and liquidated damages due to 1,377 garment industry employees since January. Those amounts resulted from violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) found in 94 percent of 129 Wage and Hour Division investigations of garment facilities in the region during that period.

The Department also assessed an additional $36,000 in civil money penalties associated with those investigations.

MANCHESTER, NH – The U.S. Department of Labor has reached a settlement with a Maine vegetable farm after an investigation found that it willfully violated terms of the H-2B non-immigrant visa program under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). Under the settlement agreement, Green Thumb Farms Inc. of Fryeburg has paid $10,164 in penalties to the Department and agreed to comply with the law, applicable H-2B regulations, and the obligations agreed and attested to in all of its temporary employment certification applications.

CONCORD, NH – A New Hampshire man has pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of obstruction of justice in connection with a U.S. Department of Labor wage and hour investigation and litigation. It is believed to be the first federal criminal prosecution arising from a Department wage and hour investigation in New Hampshire.

ATGLEN, PA – The U.S. Department of Labor and a Pennsylvania manufacturing company reached an agreement to resolve alleged overtime, recordkeeping, and child labor violations of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

Stoltzfus Structures LLC will pay $188,572 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages to 47 employees. The company also has been assessed, and has not contested, a penalty in the amount of $30,800 for violations of the child labor provisions of the FLSA.

CHARLESTON, WV – The U.S. Department of Labor and a West Virginia nursing home and rehabilitation company have reached an agreement to resolve alleged overtime violations of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

Stonerise Healthcare LLC will pay $61,840 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages to 498 healthcare employees at 16 facilities in West Virginia.

LOUISVILLE, KY – American Security Programs Inc., a security service providing armed guards, will pay $277,306 in back wages to 61 employees after a U.S. Department of Labor investigation found the company violated the McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act (SCA), the Contract Work Hours and Safety Standard Act (CWHSSA), and the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ – The owner of six southern New Jersey gas stations has paid $1,471,024 in back wages and damages to 24 gas station attendants to resolve violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

PITTSBURGH, PA – A federal contractor that serves as the prime contractor for repair and renovation projects at federal buildings in West Virginia and Kentucky, has paid $213,282 in back wages to seven employees to resolve violations of federal law found by the U.S. Department of Labor.

WASHINGTON, DC – As retailers and other businesses temporarily increase staffing levels to accommodate heightened seasonal consumer demand, the U.S. Department of Labor reminds employers of the necessity of complying with federal labor laws related to safety, pay, and benefits.

ALBUQUERQUE, NM – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division and New Mexico’s Office of the Attorney General have signed a collaboration agreement to combat human trafficking in New Mexico. The anti-human trafficking agreement is the first of its kind in the Department.

BOWMAN, ND – The U.S. Department of Labor has debarred Lambourn Farm, a North Dakota grain and cattle farming operation, from participation in the H-2A temporary visa program after the farm violated program provisions and failed to cooperate with Department investigators.

The H-2a program allows employers to bring non-immigrant, foreign workers to the U.S. to perform agricultural labor.

CHICAGO, IL – Fabulous Freddies Italian Eatery, a restaurant in Chicago’s South Loop, and one of its named owners, Stephanie Fitzpatrick, have paid 58 employees a total of $339,418 in unpaid wages and damages in a consent judgment following a U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigation.

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding the tip regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).  Under the proposed rule, workplaces would have the freedom to allow sharing of tips among more employees.  The proposal would help decrease wage disparities between tipped and non-tipped workers – an option that is currently restricted by a rule promulgated in 2011 that has been challenged in a number of courts.