ATLANTA – In what may be the largest misclassification case in its history, the U.S. Department of Labor has asked a federal court to force a Florida-based customer service provider for major national brands, including Barnes & Noble, Comcast, Disney and Walgreens, to pay back wages and liquidated damages to more than 22,000 workers after investigators found the employer misclassified employees as independent contractors and denied them their legally required minimum wage and overtime pay.

INDIANOLA, MS – In the summer of 2022, U.S. Department of Labor leaders heard from a group of Black farmworkers in the Mississippi Delta about allegations of abuse and exploitation of Black farmworkers in some of the nation’s poorest counties, including egregious violations of their workplace rights.

Who:               U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division

                        U.S. Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau

                        U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

                        New York State Workers’ Compensation Board

Who:              

U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division
U.S. Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Tennessee Department of Health Division of Family Health and Wellness

What: “Working Mothers: What to Expect from Your Employer When You’re Expecting” webinar

When:      July 11, 2023, 1-3 p.m. CDT  

BOSTON - El Departamento de Trabajo ha recuperado $771,022 en salarios atrasados y $61,215 en concepto de daños y perjuicios para 47 personas empleadas en una empresa de paisajismo en Haverhill que no cumplía con los requisitos del programa federal de visas de trabajo H-2B y la Ley de Normas Justas de Trabajo.

MINNEAPOLIS – Following a five-day jury trial, a federal district court in Minneapolis has awarded $254,628 in back wages and liquidated damages to 21 drivers after the U.S. Department of Labor determined their employer, a non-emergency medical transportation company, misclassified them as independent contractors denying them overtime pay.

BOSTON – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $771,022 in back wages and $61,215 in liquidated damages for 47 workers of a Haverhill landscaping company after the employer failed to comply with requirements of the federal H-2B worker program and the Fair Labor Standards Act. The H-2B Worker Program permits businesses to employ temporary visa workers for limited periods of time.

Employer:                                  Drevo Inc.

                                                    55 Brooklyn Lane

                                                    Palm Coast, FL 32137

SCHAUMBURG, IL – An administrative law judge has ordered a Schaumburg residential and commercial swimming pool company to pay $312,561 in back wages to 26 workers, employed under a federal guest worker visa program, after the U.S. Department of Labor found the employer failed to comply with the H-2B guest worker visa program.

HERMITAGE, TN – A federal court in Nashville has affirmed the findings of an investigation that determined a Tennessee security and traffic control services provider and its owner misclassified 105 workers as independent contractors, including some who worked as security guards in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.

OKLAHOMA CITY - Mientras que docenas de trabajadores de salud en Oklahoma realizaron pruebas a muchísimas personas para detectar el coronavirus en carpas, habitaciones de hotel y otros espacios públicos durante el apogeo de la pandemia, su empleador los clasificó erróneamente como contratistas independientes y les negó los salarios por horas extras, beneficios y protecciones que más que ganaron.

HACKENSACK, NJ – Three northern New Jersey supermarkets have paid more than $1.8 million in back wages and damages after federal investigators found the employers deliberately failed to pay required overtime rates to 226 employees who worked overtime at stores in Hackensack, Oakland and Waldwick.

OKLAHOMA CITY – While dozens of Oklahoma healthcare workers tested scores of people for coronavirus in tents, hotel rooms and other public spaces at the pandemic’s height, their employer misclassified them as independent contractors and denied them the overtime wages, benefits and protections they more than earned.

Employer:
Weston Mountain Onions LLC
2926 Kingsgate Way
Richland, WA 99354

ORLANDO, FL – The federal Family and Medical Leave Act protects workers from being forced by their employers to choose between their health or their job, so when a regional railroad fired an engineer who sought protected leave, the U.S. Department of Labor investigated.

Who:             U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division

                        U.S. Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau

                        U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

                        Texas Department of State Health Services

What:             “Working Mothers: What to Expect from Your Employer When You’re Expecting” webinar

NASHVILLE, TN – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $270,751 in back wages after investigators learned a Nashville restaurant required servers to share tips with dishwashers and failed to pay some workers overtime wages when required. In all, 82 employees will benefit from the wage recovery.

Date of action:  June 13, 2023

Type of action:  Fair Labor Standards Act consent order and permanent injunction

Names of defendants:   811 Autoworks LLC, operating as AOK Walker Luxury Autoworks 

                                                Miles Walker

ALBANY, NY – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $37,103 in back wages for 86 workers employed by three agricultural industry employers — a Wayne County farm, a Michigan farm labor contractor and a Genesee County warehouse operator — whose employment practices shortchanged their wages and denied monies owed to them under federal regulations protecting temporary farmworkers.

ALBANY, NY - El Departamento de Trabajo de EE.UU. ha recuperado $37,103 en salarios atrasados para 86 trabajadores empleados por tres empleadores de la industria agrícola -una granja del condado de Wayne, un contratista de trabajo agrícola de Michigan y un operador de almacén del condado de Genesee- cuyas prácticas de empleo les rebajaron los salarios y les negaron el dinero que se les debía en virtud de la normativa federal que protege a los trabajadores agrícolas temporales.