Date of action:                       April 6, 2023

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

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $62,412 in back wages and damages for 20 workers after a federal court in Michigan supported the department’s findings that a Grand Rapids restaurant denied overtime wages to the workers and failed to pay minimum wage to one server.

DUNDEE, OH – An Ohio lathe mill has paid an enhanced child labor enforcement penalty of $22,093 after  federal investigators found the company employed a 15-year-old worker illegally in a hazardous occupation –the operation of a sawmill – which led the worker to suffer injury when he became entangled in the gears of a powered wood processing machine.

Date of action:                       March 31, 2023

Type of action:                      Complaint

Names of defendant:         Medi-Wheels of the Palm Beaches Inc.

Date of action:                       March 22, 2023

Type of action:                      Order

Names of defendants:         Unitil Service Corp.

CONCORD, NH - Un tribunal federal ha aprobado un fallo por consentimiento que obliga al propietario y operador de tres restaurantes en Nuevo Hampshire y Massachusetts, con sede principal en Concord, Nuevo Hampshire a pagar $911,568 en salarios atrasados y daños y perjuicios a 99 empleados tras una investigación del Departamento de Trabajo de EE. UU. sobre sus prácticas de pago.

CONCORD, NH – A federal court has entered a consent order requiring the Concord-based owner and operator of three restaurants in New Hampshire and Massachusetts to pay $911,568 in back wages and liquidated damages to 99 employees after a U.S. Department of Labor investigation into their pay practices.

AUSTIN, TX – When an employee of a luxury auto dealership in Austin learned a co-worker had tested positive for COVID-19 in December 2020, they alerted the company’s management and requested they notify other employees immediately of their exposure risk.

After the dealership failed to act, the employee emailed all company employees about the potential hazards. Less than an hour later, the car dealer terminated the employee.

KANSAS CITY, KS – The U.S. Department of Labor has filed suit against the owner of two Kansas restaurants who allegedly denied minimum and overtime wages to kitchen staff, servers, hosts and food runners after some worked as many as 66 hours per week.

Date of Action:          March 13, 2023

Type of Action:         Fair Labor Standards Act consent order and judgment

Company/Owners:    GEM Interiors Inc., Milford, Ohio

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor has requested that a federal court in Vermont allow the department to intervene and seek the court’s dismissal of a counterclaim that Bimbo Bakeries USA Inc. – one of the nation’s largest baking companies – has asserted against its own workers who are seeking the overtime compensation that they are allegedly owed.

NEW YORK – The U.S. Department of Labor has filed suit asking a federal court to stop a Brooklyn, New York, healthcare staffing provider from allegedly making employees sign contracts that would force them to work for the company for three years or repay rightfully earned wages.

SPRINGDALE, OH – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a federal court order that recovers $19,934 in back wages and damages from an Ohio home healthcare and adult daycare service provider who denied seven employees overtime wages and failed to properly pay in-home workers when clients’ needs disrupted their sleep time.

BOSTON – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment and order prohibiting a Somerville, Massachusetts, restaurant and its owner from retaliating against employees who cooperate in the department’s efforts to enforce the Fair Labor Standards Act. Fakhouri Inc. – operating as Sound Bites Café – and Yasser Mirza must also pay $15,000 in punitive damages to the affected current and former employees in connection with the department’s retaliation claim.

NEW YORK – A federal court has ordered a Brewster home care provider to stop retaliating against employees in an effort to obstruct a U.S. Department of Labor investigation into the employers’ pay practices.

WASHINGTON – Since 2018, the U.S. Department of Labor has seen a 69 percent increase in children being employed illegally by companies. In the last fiscal year, the department found 835 companies it investigated had employed more than 3,800 children in violation of labor laws. The maximum civil monetary penalty under current law for a child labor violation is $15,138 per child. That’s not high enough to be a deterrent for major profitable companies.

WASHINGTON – A federal panel has affirmed that Walmart Inc. violated federal workplace safety standards at its warehouse in Johnstown, New York, when it failed to prevent stored merchandise from falling onto – and seriously injuring – an employee in 2017.

SAN FRANCISCO – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment that orders a Salinas labor contractor – who withheld final paychecks and transportation expenses – to hundreds of farmworkers to pay more than $460,000 in damages and penalties, following the department’s investigation and litigation.

URBANA, IL – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a federal court order requiring an Illinois home healthcare provider to pay 69 workers $1.1 million in back wages and damages for its failure to pay these workers for all hours worked.

ALIQUIPPA, PA – As the nation today recognizes the selfless and dedicated work of professional caregivers on National Caregivers Day, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that a federal court has entered a default judgment against an Aliquippa home health provider and its owner, after an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division found the employer denied 23 home health aides overtime wages.