Employer: Amigo Farms, Inc.

Sites:4245 East 32^nd St.
Yuma, Arizona

Investigation findings: Investigators from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found that Amigo Farms, Inc. failed to pay lettuce pickers at fields in Winterhaven, California, for time spent on the job waiting for ice to melt off the produce in the winter months. At times, the thaw could take 1 to 3 hours per day.

FREMONT, Neb. – Hormel Foods Corp. has agreed to hire 37 women with retroactive seniority and pay $550,000 in back wages to 403 female job applicants denied entry-level production positions at its Fremont hog-processing facility. The global food manufacturer’s action resolves U.S. Department of Labor findings that the company – a large federal contractor – discriminated in hiring against women in violation of Executive Order 11246.

Date of action: Dec. 15, 2016

Type of action: Complaint

Name of defendants: Urban Hotels Inc., doing business as LAX Plaza Hotel
Urban Hotels 401(k) Plan and Trust

WASHINGTON – Increasing access to retirement savings opportunities is the surest way to help more of America’s workers secure their financial futures. Today, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration is announcing a final rule to assist large cities and other political subdivisions that establish payroll deduction individual retirement account savings programs for workers who do not have access to workplace savings arrangements.

WASHINGTON – At 13, Sonia Pierre began her stand for workers’ rights in the Dominican Republic, leading a march to demand humane working conditions for sugar cane harvesters in the “batey” – the worker settlement in which she grew up.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez issued a statement regarding today’s release by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of its Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries.

EL DORADO SPRINGS, Mo. – A federal workplace safety inspection – that occurred only after a federal court ordered an El Dorado Springs sheet metal manufacturer to allow inspectors to respond to complaints of unsafe working conditions and employee injuries – led to the discovery of more than a dozen repeated and serious violations and an assessment of $138,430 in proposed fines.

WASHINGTON – To broaden career opportunities in registered apprenticeships for traditionally under-represented groups, the US Department of Labor today issued a final rule that updates equal employment opportunity requirements.

WASHINGTON – It can be challenging for workers seeking disability benefits from an employer-sponsored plan to understand the process and why their claim is approved or denied. To improve the fairness, transparency and accuracy of the disability claims process, the U.S. Department of Labor has announced a final rule requiring that plans, plan fiduciaries, and insurance providers comply with additional procedural protections when dealing with disability benefit claimants.

Employer: El Calamar Inc.

Site: 315 West 17th St.
Santa Ana, California

WASHINGTON – The U.S. General Services Administration, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Labor, today announced the plan for environmental, transportation and historic preservation studies at the Frances Perkins Building and other sites being explored for the department’s new headquarters.

BOISE, Idaho – Brandon Horine’s first day at work removing shingles from a residential roof in Nampa was also his last. Without required fall protection equipment in place, the 42-year-old worker fell to the ground on Sept. 12, 2016 – suffering severe brain trauma that ended his life several days later.

Employer name: U.S. Postal Service Processing and Distribution Center

Inspection site: 8409 Lee Hwy, Merrifield, Virginia

HOUSTON – On a motel housekeeper’s wages, Iris Castro lives on a budget that barely makes ends meet. When her aging parents’ ill health demanded medications, she couldn’t afford to send money home to her native Honduras. Unable to return home, she is left to mourn their deaths in the past two years and saddened by her inability to help pay for their care.

Employer name: Star Laundry Inc.
421 and 436 East 16^th St.
Paterson, New Jersey                     

Citations issued: On Dec. 7, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued citations against Brite Services Inc., doing business as Star Laundry Inc., for seven repeat, two serious and three other-than-serious violations.

In the week ending December 10, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 254,000, a decrease of 4,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 258,000. The 4-week moving average was 257,750, an increase of 5,250 from the previous week's unrevised average of 252,500.

TROY, Mich. – A Michigan-based auto components manufacturer and supplier will pay 526 workers $75,064 – representing $37,532 in unpaid overtime wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages – after federal investigators determined the company calculated their overtime pay incorrectly.

ANDOVER, Mass. – An employee of Ned Stevens Gutter Cleaning and General Contracting of Massachusetts Inc. was injured when he fell 9 feet from a garage roof in Lexington on Oct. 24, 2016. It was the second such incident in Massachusetts in less than a year for the New Jersey-based company that specializes in cleaning gutters and roofs. On Nov. 29, 2015, another employee fell 26 feet from a roof in Newton.

CUSSETA, Ala. – When she wasn’t employed as a temporary worker at a Cusseta manufacturer that stamps metal parts for Hyundai and Kia vehicles, Regina Allen Elsea was making final plans for her wedding and looking forward to a new life with her future husband.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division has recovered $123,574 in back wages and damages for 22 underpaid workers at four Mozzarella’s and Fitzy’s Pub Family restaurants in southern New England. The employers also paid $4,114 in civil monetary penalties.