SIOUX FALLS, SD – Each year, hundreds of workers are injured – some fatally – on construction sites. So, as the spring construction season gets into full swing, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration and more than 500 voluntary employee members of the Associated General Contractors of South Dakota are teaming up to protect workers from common construction industry hazards.

EAST ORANGE, NJ – The U.S. Department of Labor and an East Orange medical transport services contractor has reached a settlement agreement after a federal investigation found violations of the McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the appointment of seven members and leadership for the 2022 Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans, also known as the ERISA Advisory Council.

The 15-member council provides advice on policies and regulations affecting employee benefit plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974.

BAYVILLE, NJ - Following a U.S. Department of Labor investigation, an administrative law judge ordered a commercial landscaping company based in Bayville to pay 47 temporary landscaping workers $181,670.19 in back wages. The employer will also pay $38,329.81 in civil money penalties.

WASHINGTON – Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh today toured a treatment facility operated by the Spanish Fort Water System, an Alabama water utility company, to highlight efforts by the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration to protect workers from heat-related hazards in the workplace.

EL PASO, TX – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited a Texas metal fabricator for repeatedly exposing employees to fall, machine and other safety hazards. OSHA’s most recent inspection of Kyoei Steel LTD – operating as Vinton Steel LLC – found 19 violations. The agency proposed penalties of $364,078.

AUGUSTA, ME – A Maine roofing and siding contractor, solely owned, operated and controlled by Andrew Raymond Pollock, willfully exposed its employees to fall hazards at a Hampden residential construction site on multiple occasions during the same inspection by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

TRAFFORD, PA – Four federal investigations have led to the recovery of $383,183 in back wages and liquidated damages for 46 workers of a Trafford homecare service provider who denied them their full wages by not paying them overtime when the law required.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today published its Equity Action Plan in response to the Biden-Harris administration’s Executive Order 13985 on Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities, issued in 2021.

In the week ending April 9, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 185,000, an increase of 18,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 166,000 to 167,000. The 4-week moving average was 172,250, an increase of 2,000 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 250 from 170,000 to 170,250.

HONOLULU – A federal investigation recovered $153,070 in back wages and liquidated damages for 17 workers of a Honolulu bakery and café whose operator denied them their overtime wages and endangered the safety of minor-aged workers.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh and the Austrian Minister for Digital and Economic Affairs Dr. Margarete Schramböck signed a memorandum of understanding today to expand Registered Apprenticeships among Austrian companies and Austrian-invested companies in the U.S. to promote job creation in both countries.

UNION CITY, CA – A federal investigation has recovered $176,193 in back wages for nine health care workers after the owner of four Bay Area residential care homes denied them overtime pay.

Employer:     

Kevsal Inc., operating as Jose Tequilas Mexican Grill & Bar, 615 Thimble Shoals, Newport News

Jose Tequilas Inc., operating as Jose Tequilas Mexican Grill & Bar, 2052 Lynnhaven Parkway, Virginia Beach

Tapatio Inc., operating as Jose Tequilas Mexican Grill & Bar, 2101 McComas Way, Virginia Beach

WASHINGTON – Por primera vez, la Administración de Salud y Seguridad Ocupacional del Departamento de Trabajo de los Estados Unidos (OSHA por sus siglas en inglés) ha lanzado un Programa Nacional de Énfasis para proteger a millones de trabajadores de enfermedades y lesiones causadas por el calor.

Date of action:           April 1, 2022

Type of action:           Preliminary Injunction

Names of defendants:  Chinatown Supermarket LLC

WASHINGTON – For the first time, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has launched a National Emphasis Program to protect millions of workers from heat illness and injuries.

Date of action: April 4, 2022

Type of action: Complaint and motion for temporary restraining order

Court: U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky

Names of defendants: Z4 Fuels LLC, doing business as Chavies Food Mart, and owner, Parvez Khutliwala, and manager, Rahim Ali

WESTON, WI – An employee working at Crystal Finishing Systems Inc.’s aluminum extrusion facility in Weston was hospitalized with serious injuries after being struck by a puller machine while trying to unjam a piece of aluminum.

SAN DIEGO – Mientras que docenas de compañías a lo largo de la frontera de Estados Unidos en California contratan trabajadores de México para trabajar como trabajadores de almacenes y logística en decenas de edificios no descriptivos, los investigadores y abogados del Departamento de Trabajo de EE.UU. también están trabajando arduamente–para prevenir la explotación de estos trabajadores y hacer que los empleadores rindan cuentas.