MOUNT DORA, FL - After an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division (WHD), AG Labor LLC – based in Plant City, Florida – has paid $16,332 in back wages and damages to 44 employees for violating requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the H-2A visa program. The employer also paid $2,082 in civil money penalties for the H-2A violations.

CHARLOTTE, NC – The U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, Charlotte Division, has entered a consent judgment and order between the U.S. Department of Labor and Steven Matthew Good, William H. Winn Jr., SmartCore LLC, and the SmartCore LLC Group Health Benefit Plan requiring them to pay $21,404 to the plan participants to cover unpaid medical claims or to reimburse their contributions to the plan.

ORLANDO, FL – After an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division (WHD), Flipper's Pizza T. & B. Inc. – operating 11 Central Florida Flippers Pizzeria restaurants – has paid $27,425 in back wages to 70 employees for violating the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The employer also paid $1,810 in civil money penalties for a child labor violation.

CHATTANOOGA, TN – The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has ordered the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to reinstate a former employee who TVA placed on paid administrative leave, and then later terminated in retaliation for raising nuclear safety concerns.

BOLINGBROOK, IL – The U.S. Department of Labor and the Joint Outreach Task Group will provide information about the benefits available to current and former nuclear weapons workers from covered facilities, and their families, under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act on September 5, 2019.  

WHAT: Outreach Event on Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act Benefits
The event will include presentations for claimants and authorized representatives. 

CLINTON TWP, MI – Brickworks Property Restoration – a masonry company based in Clinton Township, Michigan – will pay $130,788 in back wages to 58 employees after the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division (WHD) found the employer violated the Fair Labor Standards Act's (FLSA) overtime and recordkeeping provisions.

GLENDALE, CA – A Glendale, California, software engineering company has paid $48,193 to one employee after a U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division (WHD) investigation found the employer violated labor provisions of the H-1B foreign labor certification program.  

WHD investigators found Assigncorp failed to provide work for the employee – as required by the visa program – when business slowed, and did not pay the hourly rate required in the program's Labor Certification Application (LCA) for this idle time, a violation of federal law.

MONTGOMERYVILLE, PA - A federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania has awarded $1,047,399 in lost wages and punitive damages to two former employees of a Montgomeryville, Pennsylvania, manufacturer after a jury found the company and its owner fired them in retaliation for their participation in a federal safety investigation.

In the week ending August 17, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 209,000, a decrease of 12,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 220,000 to 221,000. The 4-week moving average was 214,500, an increase of 500 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 250 from 213,750 to 214,000.

PHOENIX, AZ –An Administrative Law Judge in the Department of Labor ordered West Valley Ear, Nose and Throat – a medical clinic based in Phoenix, Arizona – to pay $15,000 in civil penalties after the employer violated federal law by requesting that five employees submit to polygraph tests.

SIOUX FALLS, SD ‒ The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited Midwest Excavating LLC for exposing employees to trench cave-in hazards at a jobsite in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The company faces penalties of $58,343.

ST. LOUIS, MO ‒ The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited J.H. Berra Construction Co. – based in St. Louis, Missouri – for exposing employees to excavation hazards at a residential construction site in Saint Charles, Missouri. The company faces penalties of $143,206.

LAKE BARRINGTON, IL – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited Five Star Roofing Systems Inc. – based in Hartford City, Indiana – for exposing employees to fall hazards while performing roofing work at a commercial building site in Lake Barrington, Illinois. The company faces $220,249 in penalties for repeated fall protection violations.

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Labor's Hall of Honor ceremony, which will include the inductions of former U.S. Senator Robert Griffin and former National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) member Howard Jenkins, Jr. based on their work on the landmark Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (LMRDA), will take place on Thursday, September 26 at 2:00 p.m. EDT, at the Department's Frances Perkins Building in Washington, D.C.

SAN JUAN, PR – After a U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division (WHD) investigation, Xperts Inc. – a San Juan, Puerto Rico, disaster response contractor – has paid $1,341,829 in back wages to 1,853 employees to resolve violations of the McNamara-O'Hara Service Contract Act (SCA), the Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act (CWHSSA), and the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

JACKSONVILLE, FL – The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited L N Framing Inc. for exposing employees to fall hazards at a Jacksonville, Florida, worksite. The residential and commercial framing contractor faces $58,343 in penalties.

FLATWOODS, KY – After an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division (WHD), the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky has sentenced Michael Anthony Wheeler – owner of Tri-State Lawn Care Inc. operating in Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia – to serve five years on unsupervised probation and ordered him to pay $327,087 in back wages to 17 employees for violating requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the H-2A visa program.

OSHA cited Choice Products for five egregious willful violations for failing to implement and train employees on lockout/tagout procedures to prevent unintentional contact with machine operating parts during service and maintenance. Inspectors also determined that the company failed to install machine guarding, and comply with forklift regulations.

OSHA cited Choice Products for exposing employees to similar machine hazards following an October 2016 inspection.

OMAHA, NE – After a joint investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), the Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General, the U.S. District Court of Nebraska has sentenced Craig A.

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Labor announced the release of the first solicitation under the new firm-fixed price approach to procuring Job Corps center operations on Federal Business Opportunities at https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=8ebcfadd06ee5319297bd729f8ed447f&tab=core&_cview=0.