CENTRAL ISLIP, NY – The owner of a Lynbrook grocery store believed they could ignore requests from the U.S. Department of Labor and a federal court in New York to cooperate with an investigation of their company’s pay practices. 

When the U.S. Marshals Service arrested and took Joseph Rossi into custody on Dec. 5, 2023, for repeatedly failing to provide information to the department’s Wage and Hour Division as part of a compliance investigation, the owner of Cross Island Fruits found out how wrong this belief was.

Employers:    Network Connect Healthcare Staffing

                        7930 Castleway Drive

                        Indianapolis, IN 46250

Employer name:                               Chief’s Place Pizza Restaurant Inc. doing business as Chief’s Place

Investigation site:                             348 Village St., Concord, NH 03303

WASHINGTON – As the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division and Office of the Solicitor continue to find serious illegal employment practices in the meat and poultry processing industries, a California poultry processor and supplier to supermarkets and food distributors — including Ralphs, ALDI, Grocery Outlet and SYSCO Corp.

MUSKEGON HEIGHTS, MI – A federal investigation has recovered $98,316 in back wages and liquidated damages for 32 security guards who the Muskegon Heights Housing Commission failed to pay overtime wages because the Michigan employer misclassified them as independent contractors.

DETROIT, MI – A federal court has ordered the owner of a Michigan senior home care services company be imprisoned if she continues to ignore a March 2023 federal court order to provide U.S. Department of Labor investigators with time and pay records, despite being in contempt of court since Sept. 27, 2023, and assessed $250 for each day she refused to comply. 

OCONOMOWOC, WI – A U.S. Department of Labor investigation has found 21 construction companies working on a federally assisted construction project violated federal laws, leading to the recovery of more than $1.2 million in prevailing and overtime wages for 142 construction workers who built a 302-unit housing development in Oconomowoc.

PITTSBURGH – An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor has found the operator of five McDonald’s franchise locations in the greater Pittsburgh area employed 34 children to work later and longer than permitted by child labor laws.

The department’s Wage and Hour Division learned Endor Inc., based in Cranberry Township, violated federal child labor regulations by employing 14- and 15-year-old children to work outside permissible hours as follows:

LOS ANGELES – El Departamento de Trabajo de EE. UU. recuperó US$481.357 de una empresa de pintura y revestimiento de paredes de Burbank que defraudó a 117 trabajadores al no pagarles los salarios obligatorios por las horas extras y luego dijo repetidamente a los investigadores federales que los empleados no habían trabajado horas extras.

LOS ANGELES – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $481,357 from a Burbank paint and wall covering company who shortchanged 117 workers by failing to pay required overtime wages and then told federal investigators repeatedly that the employees had not worked overtime hours.

COLUMBIA, SC – A U.S. Department of Labor investigation has recovered $139,975 in back wages from a Spartanburg home healthcare provider that wrongly exempted 29 employees from overtime and failed to pay them proper wages in violation of federal regulations.

Employers:    Poros Inc., operating as Bentley’s Pancake House

Pete and Stavroula Giafis,owners 

Actions:          Fair Labor Standards Act consent order and judgment

Court: U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois

Read this news release in English. 

RALEIGH, NC – El Departamento de Trabajo de EE. UU. impuso a dos empleadores de Carolina del Norte US$139,039 en multas después de que su investigación encontró que victimizaron a trabajadores agrícolas no inmigrantes al defraudar los salarios de 65 de ellos y al tratar de intimidarlos al confiscar sus pasaportes.

Read this news release En Español. 

RALEIGH, NC – The U.S. Department of Labor assessed two North Carolina employers $139,039 in penalties after its investigation found they victimized non-immigrant farmworkers by shortchanging 65 workers’ wages, and by trying to intimidate and seizing their passports.

Employer:      

Green River District Health Department 

1501 Breckinridge St.

Owensboro, KY 42303 

MONTGOMERY, AL – Federal investigators have recovered $532,842 in back wages and liquidated damages from a Montgomery home healthcare business that misclassified 67 employees as independent contractors, and incurred overtime wage violations as a result.

Employer:      Urban Air Tutwiler LLC, operating as Urban Air Trussville

                        3695 Roosevelt Blvd.

                        Birmingham, AL 35235

WASHINGTON – El Departamento de Trabajo de EE UU ha recuperado $11.4 millones   en concepto de salarios atrasados y daños y perjuicios para más de 1,000 empleados de una cadena de restaurantes de la Costa Este después de una serie de investigaciones y de litigio que el Departamento llevó a cabo. 

Employer’s address:            Plantation Pointe Retirement Community 

                                                81 Windsor Boulevard

                                                Columbus, MS 39702

Investigation Sites:               The Arrington LLC, operating as Arrington Assisted Living

                                                 234 Windsor Blvd

Employer:      Heide & Cook LLC

                            1714 Kanakanui St.