WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the award of a $10 million cooperative agreement to The Ergo Group to provide assistance to state labor courts in Mexico in protecting worker rights as part of the country’s 2019 labor law reform.

Date of action:                       Jan. 17, 2023

Type of action:                      U.S. Department of Labor complaint

LITTLE ROCK, AR – A U.S. Department of Labor investigation has determined a Carrollton, Texas, lumber supplier and retailer could have prevented the death of an 18-year-old worker who was struck by a forklift at a Rison, Arkansas, worksite in July 2022 by following federal safety requirements.

PHOENIX – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $724,082 in back wages and damages for 255 employees of an electrical contractor in Phoenix who denied them overtime wages and falsified records.  

NEW YORK – The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York has issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting a Patterson nursery and garden supply business, and its president from threatening its employees and obstructing a U.S. Department of Labor investigation.

Employer:  Orlando Health Medical Group Inc. - Operating as Orlando Health Medical Group Urology

Investigation sites: 

303 E. Par St., Orlando, FL 32804 (Headquarters)

865 Oakley Seaver Drive, Clermont, FL 43711

392 Rinehart Road, Lake Mary, FL 32746

WEST LAFAYETTE, OH – Following yet another inspection – this time at a West Lafayette, Ohio, Dollar General location – federal investigators found one of the nation’s largest discount retailers continues to shelve serious safety concerns that expose workers and others to the dangers of blocked emergency exits and electrical panels, and boxes of merchandise stacked at unsafe heights.

RIVERSIDE, CA – The U.S. Department of Labor has reached a settlement agreement with ElDorado National to resolve allegations of systemic hiring discrimination affecting white and Asian applicants at its bus manufacturing facility in Riverside, California.

MINNEAPOLIS – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment in federal court requiring a Minneapolis private in-home care provider to pay $1.6 million in back wages and damages, as part of the department’s effort to recover unpaid overtime wages for 136 healthcare workers in the Twin-Cities area.

WASHINGTON – El Departamento de Trabajo de los Estados Unidos anunció hoy que su aplicación Miner Safety and Health para iOS y Android que proporciona información oportuna directamente a los mineros ahora está disponible en español.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced that its Miner Safety and Health app for iOS and Android devices that provides timely information directly to miners is now available in Spanish.

In the week ending January 14, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 190,000, a decrease of 15,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 205,000. The 4-week moving average was 206,000, a decrease of 6,500 from the previous week's unrevised average of 212,500.

WASHINGTON – The governments of the U.S. and Mexico signed a memorandum of understanding on Jan. 17, 2023, to strengthen protections for workers participating in temporary foreign worker programs.

WASHINGTON – As much as Americans depend upon young migrant and seasonal farmworkers to supply fruits and vegetables to their households, few may realize the difficulties these workers face on farms throughout the nation.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced a notice of proposed rulemaking by its Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs to revise regulations governing the standards related to self-insurance by coal mine operators.

LITTLE ROCK, AR - Una investigación federal ha recuperado $39,436 en salarios atrasados para 23 trabajadores H-2A empleados por una desmontadora de Marvell, cuyo operador no cumplió con las protecciones de los trabajadores de la Ley de Normas Justas de Trabajo (FLSA por sus siglas en inglés).

LITTLE ROCK, AR – A federal investigation has recovered $39,436 in back wages for 23 H-2A workers employed by a Marvell cotton gin, whose operator failed to comply with worker protections in the Fair Labor Standards Act.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced that its Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Amazon for failing to keep workers safe, and has issued hazard alert letters after inspections at three warehouse facilities – in Deltona, Florida; Waukegan, Illinois; and New Windsor, New York – after finding workers exposed to ergonomic hazards.

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – A federal court has ordered the owner of a Haslett assisted living facility to pay $15,238 in back wages and damages to six healthcare workers, whom the employer failed to pay during meal breaks when their duties forced them to work during or through the breaks.

CARBONDALE, IL – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a federal court order requiring a Carbondale café to pay 31 workers $98,400 in back wages and damages for operating an illegal tip pool, almost six months after a jury awarded the workers $4,900 – just 10 percent of their back wages – in what the department alleged was an error based on the jury’s instructions and how they interpreted the evidence at trial.