WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the award of more than $204 million in grants to support strengthening and modernizing unemployment insurance systems in 18 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Funded by the American Rescue Plan Act, the grants will also help make these systems more reliable and accessible to users.

PORTLAND – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $947,547 from four Oregon contractors who failed to pay fringe benefits, prevailing and overtime wages to 213 employees working on federally funded construction projects in Oregon and Washington. 

Employer name:       Sunrise Residential Care Services LLC

Employer address:    8801 Bricelyn St., Pittsburgh, PA 15221

In the week ending September 16, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 201,000, a decrease of 20,000 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 217,000, a decrease of 7,750 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 250 from 224,500 to 224,750.

Employer:    J&K Repair Services LLC

                        6680 Turtle Hill Road

 Las Vegas, NV 89110 

SAN ANTONIO – A federal investigation of a San Antonio-based company has recovered more than $1.1 million in back wages for 238 employees whose employer failed to make payroll on two occasions on Dec. 26, 2022, and Jan. 8, 2023.

 The recovery follows a U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigation of Water Energy Services LLC, which provides water reclamation services for the energy industry, that determined the missed payrolls caused minimum wage and overtime violations.

CANTONMENT, FL – A Georgia-based concrete pipe manufacturer could have prevented a 19-year-old worker from suffering fatal injuries after a concrete mixer restarted while the teen tried to clean the machine’s inside in Cantonment in March 2023.

Employers:    Cascabel Ventures LLC 

                         Owner Adam Baru

Actions:          Fair Labor Standards Act complaint filing

Courts:           U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan 

Fecha de acción:                    7 de septiembre de 2023

Tipo de acción:                      Queja del Departamento de Trabajo de EE. UU., solicitud de orden de restricción cautelar

SANTA MARIA, CA – Un tribunal federal emitió una sentencia por consentimiento que ordena a un contratista de mano de obra agrícola de Santa María pagar más de $1 millón en salarios atrasados y multas después de que el Departamento de Trabajo de EE.UU. encontró que el empleador violó de nuevo las regulaciones del programa de trabajadores agrícolas H-2A.

Date of action:                       Sept. 7, 2023

Type of action:                      U.S. Department of Labor complaint, request for temporary restraining order

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the award of more than $1.5 million in grants to support efforts by five community organizations to prevent and respond to gender-based violence and harassment against underserved and marginalized women workers.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced that its Occupational Safety and Health Administration awarded approximately $12.7 million in grants to 100 non-profit organizations across the nation to support education and training to help workers and employers recognize serious workplace hazards, employ injury prevention and understand workers’ rights and employers’ responsibilities under federal law.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor announced that its Division of Coal Mine Workers’ Compensation will host two outreach events in Alabama on Sept. 20 and 21, 2023, for current and former coal miners and their survivors to file or re-file benefit claims for those disabled by black lung disease. 

SANTA MARIA, CA – A federal court has entered a consent judgment that orders a Santa Maria farm labor contractor to pay more than $1 million in back wages and penalties after the U.S. Department of Labor found the employer again violated regulations of the H-2A agricultural worker program.

Employers:    

Hill Plumbing & Electric Co. Inc., operating as Hill Plumbing & Air, 438 North Main St., Sumter, SC 29150

Love Plumbing Electrical and Air LLC, 1336 Methodist Park Road, West Columbia, SC 29170

WASHINGTON – Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su and the Department of Labor has inducted a group of Thai garment workers who helped expose their former employer’s abusive labor practices in 1995 into the department’s Hall of Honor. The group, who spurred changes in legal protections for workers nationwide, were honored at a ceremony held on Sept. 18, 2023, at the department’s Washington headquarters.

Employers:    Sparty Tacos LLC

                        TC Tacos LLC

                        GR Tacos LLC, operating as Barrio Tacos

                        Owner Jacob Hawley

WASHINGTON – With opioid abuse responsible for about four deaths each day in Massachusetts, the commonwealth cites the epidemic as its greatest public health threat. To help address the crisis, the U.S. Department of Labor today announced the award of more than $1 million in funding for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development to address the impact of the opioid crisis on the local workforce in Berkshire County.

PHOENIX – The U.S. Department of Labor is asking employers in Arizona’s heavy and highway construction industries to participate in a survey to help the department’s Wage and Hour Division establish prevailing wage rates for construction workers employed on federally funded and federally assisted projects.