Employer name:                               Kingsbury Companies LLC

Investigation site:                 58 Center Road, Middlesex, VT 05602 

BOSTON – A county jail in Madison, Maine, has paid $133,273 in overtime back wages due to 142 correctional officers to resolve violations of the Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act (CWHSSA) following an investigation by the U.S.

LOS ANGELES – El Departamento de Trabajo de EE.UU.

LOS ANGELES – The U.S.

COLLEGEVILLE, PA – A Collegeville restaurant and its owners must pay $268,660 in back wages, liquidated damages and punitive damages to satisfy a consent judgment obtained by the U.S. Department of Labor after an investigation into the employers’ illegal pay practices.

NEW YORK – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent injunction ordering a Rockland County roofing contractor and its principal to provide employees with fall protection equipment and make sure it’s used at all company worksites, as required by federal law. The order finds that, by allowing employees to do roofing work without fall protection, the company is exposing them to imminent danger of death or serious harm.

PITTSBURGH – A federal court is requiring a Pittsburgh staffing agency and its owner to pay $208,044 in back wages and liquidated damages to 96 home health workers misclassified as independent contractors by the employer who, in turn, failed to pay them their full wages.

Date of action:                      Sept. 28, 2023

Type of action:                     Consent Judgment and Order

WILLIAMSBURG, VA – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment in a Virginia federal court to recover $205,180 in back wages and liquidated damages from a Williamsburg restaurant that shortchanged 62 employees of their overtime wages intentionally.

Employers:      Duckels Construction Inc., Fred Duckels, owner 

Actions:           U.S. Mine Safety and Health Act consent order and judgment 

Court:               U.S. District Court of Colorado 

BOSTON – A federal court in Boston has entered a consent judgment ordering a New Jersey-based framing contractor to pay 61 construction employees $283,492 in back wages and liquidated damages and $46,507 in punitive damages to two former employees, allegedly fired for cooperating with U.S. Department of Labor investigators. 

Employers:    Great Lakes Care Companions Inc., Juan G. Salazar, owner

Actions:          Fair Labor Standards Act consent order and judgment

Courts:           U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan 

HEBRON, KY – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a federal consent judgment that requires the operator of a Hebron warehouse and distribution center to stop employing children illegally and to not violate federal child labor laws in the future.

CHICAGO – After failing to satisfy repeated requests to cooperate with investigators with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, two business operators in Illinois and Minnesota must now answer to federal courts in Chicago and Minneapolis after the department filed petitions to enforce its administrative subpoenas for records.

CHANDLER, MN – A national food manufacturer paid $140,164 in civil money penalties after the U.S. Department of Labor found the company employed at least 11 children – nine of whom operated hazardous machinery – at its meatpacking and food processing facility in Chandler, Minnesota.

SEATTLE – A federal court in Seattle has ruled that Starbucks Corp. must comply with a U.S. Department of Labor administrative subpoena that seeks documents needed in an investigation by the department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards into money spent by the company related to worker organizing campaigns. The court has given the company 14 days to provide the documents.

NEW YORK – The U.S. Department of Labor has entered into a settlement agreement with EmblemHealth Inc., a New York-based insurer and third-party administrator of employment-based group health plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, resolving claims that Emblem breached its fiduciary duties under federal law by engaging in a practice known as “cross-plan offsetting.”

CHICAGO – The U.S. Department of Labor has filed suit against a Chicago security company, American Public Defense Inc.

BOISE, ID ‒ The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment in federal court requiring a Boise dog daycare facility and its former owner to pay $50,000 in general and punitive damages for terminating two employees unlawfully for raising workplace safety concerns about being exposed to the risk of the coronavirus amid the pandemic in June 2020.

WAYNE, NJ – The U.S. Department of Labor has entered into a settlement agreement with a New Jersey building contractor who allowed their subcontractors’ employees to work in close proximity to high-voltage power lines at a Paterson work site in 2021 and 2022.