WASHINGTON – Citing an unprecedent rise in global energy costs, Century Aluminum Co. – the nation’s largest producer of primary aluminum – announced plans in June 2022 to curtail operations and begin the idling process at its Hawesville, Kentucky, smelter until energy prices return to more normalized levels.

Who:               U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration

Swank Enterprises Inc.

What:             Workplace safety alliance

WASHINGTON – In the first visit to Jordan by a senior U.S. Department of Labor official in more than two decades, Deputy Undersecretary of Labor for International Affairs Thea Lee met with government officials, and labor union and business leaders for discussions on how the two nations can cooperatively help strengthen workers’ rights in the Middle East kingdom.

DELMONT, PA – Following a three-day trial and three years of litigation, a jury in a federal court in Pennsylvania has determined a Delmont restaurant and its owner intentionally shortchanged 15 servers, dishwashers, bussers and cooks more than $214,000 in wages, confirming the findings of a U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigation and litigation by its Office of the Solicitor.

Participant:   Chatham Village Foods, Wareham, Massachusetts

CONCORD, NH  – The U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire has entered a consent preliminary injunction to prevent a West Lebanon home healthcare business and its president from coercing employees to “kick back” wages recovered for them by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division. The court also ordered them to stop interfering with a current investigation.

ATLANTA – Less than one month after the U.S. Department of Labor cited Dollar General Corp. and Dolgencorp LLC with more than $1.6 million in penalties for putting its workers’ safety at risk, federal inspectors have issued citations for similar violations at store locations in Alabama, Florida and Georgia, and added $2,777,640 in proposed penalties now owed by one of the nation’s largest discount retailers.

NAMPA, ID – A federal investigation has recovered $88,185 in back wages and liquidated damages for 90 caregivers employed by an Idaho home care agency whose pay practices denied the workers their legally earned wages, including overtime.

PHILADELPHIA – A Philadelphia framing contractor faces $269,594 in proposed penalties after the company was again found exposing employees to deadly fall hazards at a residential worksite in the city’s Roxborough section on April 21, 2022.  

NEW YORK – The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York has denied a Staten Island health provider’s attempt to prevent the U.S. Department of Labor from pursuing damages for a COVID-19 whistleblower whose private state whistleblower claim was dismissed.

MANCHESTER, NH – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $51,217 in restored tips and back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages from the operator of three Cumberland County, Maine, restaurants that denied 25 workers their full overtime wages or kept portions of their earned tips illegally.

PHOENIX – The U.S.

FOSTORIA, OH – An Ohio vinyl tile manufacturer faces $1,232,705 in proposed penalties after U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspectors responded when a worker suffered severe injuries as a result of being caught in a machine on April 28, 2022.

ATLANTA – A federal court judge has ordered TPP Holdings Inc., an Atlanta architecture and interior design firm operating as The Preston Partnership, LLC, and its CEO, Robert N. Preston, to restore $540,658 to TPP’s employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) following an investigation and litigation by the U.S. Department of Labor.

PHOENIX – A federal court has ordered Arizona-based Mesa Air Group – operating regional flights for American and United airlines as Mesa Airlines – to follow federal law and correct the company’s pay policy that prevented flight attendants and pilots from exercising their rights to take time off from work for qualifying reasons under the Family and Medical Leave Act.

PITTSBURGH – The part-owner and operator of a Pittsburgh-area assisted living provider has paid more than $1 million in back wages and liquidated damages to 47 workers after a U.S. Department of Labor investigation found their pay practices denied the workers their rightfully earned wages.

WASHINGTON – A federal court has found Birdsboro Kosher Farms Corp. in contempt for failing to pay $162,359 in penalties after an inspection by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration found numerous safety hazards, including willful, serious and repeat violations.

In the week ending October 22, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 217,000, an increase of 3,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 214,000. The 4-week moving average was 219,000, an increase of 6,750 from the previous week's unrevised average of 212,250.

Participants:      U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration

                                 Lamar Advertising Co.

Date of Action:                      Oct. 20, 2022

Type of Action:                     Employee Retirement Income Security Act judgment