WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Labor announced today that its Occupational Safety and Health Administration is now overseeing worker retaliation complaints filed under two new whistleblower statutes – the Criminal Antitrust Anti-Retaliation Act and the Anti-Money Laundering Act.

DEDEDO, GUAM – By deliberately misclassifying employees as independent contractors, a Dededo construction company attempted to avoid paying overtime when workers exceeded 40 hours in a workweek until a federal investigation uncovered the scheme.

MYRTLE BEACH, SC – While the operator of six South Carolina ice cream franchise locations sold customers frozen treats, a federal investigation has gotten 61 workers their just desserts – a total of $16,250 in back wages – for the employer’s failure to pay overtime at six Myrtle Beach locations.

ST. PAUL – Twin Cities’ area shoppers know about Supermercado Lomabonita’s five locations, but they may not know that a recent U.S. Department of Labor investigation found the grocer failed to pay overtime to its cooks, butchers, bakers and cashiers as required by law.

In the week ending February 13, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 861,000, an increase of 13,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 55,000 from 793,000 to 848,000. The 4-week moving average was 833,250, a decrease of 3,500 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 13,750 from 823,000 to 836,750. 

OAK GROVE, MO – Barely two years after Arrow Plumbing LLC agreed to adopt a comprehensive trench safety program following the December 2016 death of an employee in an unprotected trench, federal inspectors responding to a complaint in August 2020 found another of the company’s employees working at least 7-feet below ground in an unprotected trench in Grain Valley.

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced several actions designed to accelerate apprenticeship expansion as it considers halting the duplicative apprenticeship system that may reduce quality, strip protections for apprentices and cause confusion for industry.

HAGATNA, GUAM – Forty-three workers left the Philippines, traveling 1,550 miles to Guam through a federal temporary work visa program. While working at various construction sites on Guam, their employer willfully withheld their hard-earned overtime pay. Once the U.S. Department of Labor investigated, these workers received all of the wages they had earned.

BILLINGS, MT – When OSHA inspectors arrived at Western Bee Supply Inc. in Polson to investigate a recent incident that resulted in a partial finger amputation, they found a workplace with unguarded saw blades, rotating machinery, belts, pulleys and chains.

IRVINE, CA – An Irvine supermarket has paid $51,430 in back wages owed to 56 workers after the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found violations of the overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

SOMERSET, NJ – For many landscaping industry workers, long days and hard work are the norm. For 12 workers of a Somerset landscaping contractor that failed to pay overtime when workweeks exceeded 40 hours, getting all of their hard-earned wages was almost as strenuous.

HAGATNA, GUAM – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division is asking businesses in Guam’s building, heavy, highway and residential construction industries to complete a survey to help the agency establish prevailing wage rates, as required under the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts.

PORTLAND, OR – After a U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigation, a Salem construction contractor is paying $68,711 in back wages to 31 employees who worked on a Eugene-Springfield area public housing project funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the award of $49 million in grants to support 28 states and territories as they continue their efforts to combat fraud in the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation programs. The department is making these awards from $100 million in funding announced Jan. 15, 2021 for states to combat fraud in these programs.

BELLAIRE, MI – A U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigation has found that Trinidad Resort & Club LLC, operator of the Shanty Creek Resort in Bellaire, violated the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime requirements repeatedly when it paid workers only for the hours they were scheduled, rather than for the total number of hours they actually worked.

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration has confirmed that “Improving Investment Advice for Worker & Retirees,” an exemption for investment advice fiduciaries, will go into effect as scheduled on Feb. 16, 2021.

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Labor today approved additional funding of $2,935,100 to the California Department of Employment Development to support continued employment for disaster-relief cleanup and recovery after severe winter storms in 2019 led to flooding, landslides and mudslides in 23 northern and central California counties.

In the week ending February 6, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 793,000, a decrease of 19,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 33,000 from 779,000 to 812,000. The 4-week moving average was 823,000, a decrease of 33,500 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 8,250 from 848,250 to 856,500.

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL – A Fort Lauderdale heating, ventilation and air conditioning contractor has paid $20,547 in back wages to 18 employees after a federal investigation found the employer failed to pay workers overtime when they worked more than 40 hours in a workweek.

HUGO, OK – A U.S. Department of Labor workplace safety investigation has found a Hugo rail car products and services provider did not follow federal safety standards for working in confined spaces after two workers died from inhaling toxic fumes.