HARTFORD, CT – After an investigation by the Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) and Office of Inspector General (OIG), Yolanda Silverio, a former eligibility coordinator for a Connecticut company that administers trust funds for public and private sector health benefit plans, has been sentenced by the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut to 10 months of imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release.

NEW YORK, NY – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Carthage Specialty Paperboard Inc., have a reached a settlement agreement to improve efforts to prevent safety and health hazards in their Carthage, New York, facility. The company will pay $175,000 in penalties.

MANCHESTER, NH – The U.S. Department of Labor has reached settlements with Bread and Roses Bakery Inc. of Ogunquit, Maine, after the Department found the company violated terms of the H-2B nonimmigrant visa program under the Immigration and Nationality Act and the minimum wage, overtime, recordkeeping, and child labor requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Under the agreements, Bread and Roses will pay $73,115 in back wages and damages to employees, and $21,052 in penalties.

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.

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.

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.

SYRACUSE, NY – A jury and judge ordered Albany-based asbestos abatement and demolition company Champagne Demolition, LLC and its owner, Joseph A. Champagne, to pay $173,793.84 to a former employee who was fired in June 2010 after reporting improper asbestos removal practices at a school worksite in Gloversville, New York.

HARTFORD, CT – A Manchester-based chain of pizza restaurants and its owner will pay $26,575 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages to employees to rectify violations of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) found by the U.S. Department of Labor. The restaurant chain and owner will also pay $14,000 in damages to a former employee who refused to provide false information to investigators.

BOSTON, MA – A Dudley contract packager of aerosol containers and the U.S. Department of Labor have reached a settlement agreement resolving alleged violations of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Shield Packaging Co. Inc. has paid $210,227 and an equal amount in liquidated damages to 205 employees and pledged future compliance with the FLSA.

NEW YORK, NY – The U.S. Department of Labor has reached agreements to resolve three lawsuits with First Bankers Trust Services Inc. (FBTS). The lawsuits alleged that FBTS violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) when it approved stock purchases by three Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs). As part of the agreements, FBTS will pay $15.75 million to the plans and reform its procedures for handling ESOP transactions.

BOSTON, MA – A Chestnut Hill restaurant and its owner will pay $141,132 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages to 15 employees in a settlement with the U.S. Department of Labor. Café Misono Inc. and owner Kenneth Lee have also amended their pay practices to comply with federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requirements. They will also pay a $7,000 civil money penalty to the Department.

NEW YORK, NY – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Acme Parts, Inc., of Brooklyn have reached a settlement agreement to improve Acme Parts’ workplace safety and health.

OSHA found high levels of lead throughout the facility presenting serious lead hazards to employees.  Workers who ingest or inhale lead are at risk of serious lead-induced health hazards, including hypertension; cardiovascular, kidney, and neurological diseases; adverse reproductive effects; and cancer.

SPRINGFIELD, MA – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Shield Packaging Co. Inc., ASI Staffing Group Corp., and Southern Mass Staffing have reached agreements to correct hazards and enhance safety following a May 2016 incident in which an employee was injected with a flammable propellant gas.

BOSTON, MA – A Gloucester seafood processor will pay $90,000 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages to 60 employees to rectify violations identified during an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division.

SYRACUSE, NY – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration and TOMRA NY Recycling LLC have reached a stipulated settlement agreement to improve workplace safety requiring the company to institute enhanced safety measures to prevent employee exposure to blood or other infectious materials.

NEW YORK, NY – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs has entered into a consent decree with B&H Foto & Electronics Corp. to resolve allegations of systemic hiring, compensation, and promotion discrimination, as well as harassment, at the company’s Brooklyn Navy Yard warehouse.

BOSTON – An enterprise operating six limited-service restaurants with pizza delivery in Worcester, Shrewsbury, and Auburn has paid $292,016 in back wages and an equal amount in damages for 73 employees. It has also amended its payroll practices to comply with federal Fair Labor Standards Act requirements in an agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor.

Type of Action: Consent order and judgement

Names of Defendants: Ditch Witch Equipment of Tennessee Inc.
Aubrey Needham

NEW YORK – The U.S. Department of Labor and a third-party administrator that provides employee health benefit plans with access to a network of doctors, hospitals and other medical providers have reached an agreement in which the administrator has committed to improve its communications with health plans and to return certain fees the plans paid for claims administration that the department alleged were not fully disclosed to the plans.