SOUTH BEND, IN – The operator of 61 liquor stores in two states must pay $354,633 in back wages and damages to 156 employees, post a statement and play a recorded video message to inform workers of their right to cooperate with federal wage investigators and notify them that he is subject to a federal lawsuit for retaliating against workers and failing to pay required wages, a U.S. District Court has ordered. 

WASHINGTON – An administrative law judge has upheld the findings of a U.S. Department of Labor investigation into the employment practices of a Bowie, Maryland concrete subcontractor and its owners that found the employers wrongly classified workers on a federally funded affordable housing project in the District of Columbia in violation of federal regulations.

Nombre del empleador:       Mi Casita Mexican Restaurant Inc., que opera bajo el nombre comercial El Lorito

Sitios de investigación:        3105 S 70th St. 

Employer name:               Mi Casita Mexican Restaurant Inc., operating as El Lorito 

Investigation sites:         3105 S 70th St. 

Employers:    Medhealth Suppliers & Providers Inc, operating as Evergreen Place, Evergreen Place 2 

                        and Bedford Home, Lansing, Michigan

SIOUX CITY, IA – The Department of Labor has entered into a consent order and judgment, approved by a federal court in Iowa on May 6, 2024, with a Tennessee cleaning contractor that requires the employer to pay $649,304 in civil money penalties, hire a third-party to review and implement company policies to prevent the employment of children in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act and establish a program for reporting concerns

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. 

Department of Labor recovers $538K in back wages, damages from Maryland residential rehabilitation provider for 37 landscaping workers denied full pay

Employer:                  

Divine Connect Care Inc.

Location:                    

3311 Toledo Terrace

 NEW ORLEANS – While people employed in the home care industry are among the nation’s lowest paid workers and are routinely expected to work long hours to help those in need, these workers are too often shortchanged by their employers’ unfair and illegal pay practices. 

RALEIGH, NC – The Department of Labor is encouraging employers and stakeholders in North Carolina’s highway construction industry to participate in a statewide survey to help its Wage and Hour Division establish prevailing wage rates for construction workers on federally funded and assisted construction projects.

AMARILLO, TX – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $52,497 in back wages for 134 workers with disabilities after an Amarillo nonprofit – which provides rehabilitation and vocational training services to adults with developmental and physical disabilities – failed to pay them the required subminimum wage rate.

Employer:      Alumatech Furniture Manufacturing Inc. 

6063 17th St. 

East Bradenton, FL 34203

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. 

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.

SACRAMENTO, CA – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $245,722 in back wages and damages for 10 cooks after investigators found the owner and operator of four northern California restaurants denied them required overtime and minimum wages knowingly. 

Nombre del empleador:                   Paredes Inc., que opera como Superior Service

Sitios de investigación:                     75 Garrett Trail 

MANCHESTER, NH – A Vermont restaurant server will receive $50,000 in punitive damages and $829 in back pay, after a U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigation found the employer retaliated against them by terminating their employment for refusing to share tips with a manager.

Employer name:                    Paredes Inc., operating as Superior Service

Investigation sites:               75 Garrett Trail 

                                                         Maxwell, TX 78656

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment in federal court that orders a Virginia concrete contractor to pay nearly $1.2 million in back wages, damages and penalties after its investigation found the employer misclassified 29 employees as independent contractors and failed to pay proper overtime to its employees.

WASHINGTON – The Biden-Harris administration today announced a final rule that expands overtime protections for millions of the nation’s lower-paid salaried workers by increasing the salary thresholds required to exempt a salaried bona fide executive, administrative or professional employee from federal overtime pay requirements.