WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the award of $20,520,000 in grant funding to Arizona, Colorado and North Carolina to improve the delivery of unemployment insurance services to people facing obstacles to access.

HONOLULU – A U.S. Department of Labor investigation has recovered $156,837 in back wages from a Honolulu contractor who paid 46 workers lower wages than the law allows for the type of work they performed under federal contracts awarded by U.S. Marine Corps, Navy, Army and Coast Guard in Hawaii.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor has awarded a $7 million cooperative agreement to increase worker protections to reduce child labor, forced labor and other forms of labor exploitation in the chile pepper and tomato sectors operating in the Mexican states of Baja California, Baja California Sur, Chihuahua, Guerrero and Oaxaca.

LOUISVILLE, KY – The U.S. Department of Labor recovered $130,879 in back wages and liquidated damages for 68 workers after a Beattyville-based food services contractor failed to pay their full wages by incorrectly applying overtime rules for managers.

Employer:                                          Brito Enterprises of Tampa Inc.

Participant:     Onward Energy, SWG Arapahoe LLC

Address:         2601 S. Platte River Drive, 

                        Denver, CO 80223

BATON ROUGE, LA – A Baton Rouge roofing contractor – who ignored federal safety inspectors’ February 2022 warnings that not complying with required fall protection standards exposed their workers to serious dangers – now faces the consequences after an investigation into a worker’s deadly fall at a different work site two months later found the incident could have been prevented if protective devices were used.

COLUMBUS, OH – One of the nation’s largest discount retailers continues to expose employees to the risk of injuries by flagrantly ignoring workplace safety regulations, this time with hazardous conditions found at two Ohio locations, in Maple Heights and Columbus.

WAPAKONETA, OH – Federal safety investigators found workers at General Aluminum Mfg. Co.’s Wapakoneta site exposed to machine hazards, just 36 days after they found similar violations at the aluminum vehicle parts manufacturer’s facility in Conneaut.

CANTON, GA – A federal workplace safety investigation into a Jan. 19, 2022, ammonia leak that hospitalized two workers and led to the evacuation of about 50 workers at a Canton poultry processing plant found their employer might have prevented the incident by ensuring required safety standards were followed.

WASHINGTON – In the summer months, many employers hire young workers to meet increased demand. Across the nation in 2022, millions of teenagers are working in the agriculture, food services, retail, recreation and construction industries. At the same time, increases in child labor violations has the U.S. Department of Labor stepping up employer outreach and enforcement actions to help employers prevent young workers’ jobs from jeopardizing their safety, health or educational opportunities.

HOUSTON - Una investigación del Departamento de Trabajo de EE. UU. ha recuperado $178,358 en salarios por horas extras atrasados para 27 trabajadores de una empresa de soldadura y fabricación de Houston que los clasificaba erróneamente como contratistas independientes y les negaba sus salarios y beneficios completos.

HOUSTON – An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $178,358 in overtime back wages for 27 employees of a Houston welding and fabrication company that misclassified them as independent contractors and denied them their full wages and benefits.

SEATTLE – The U.S. Department of Labor has debarred an East Wenatchee orchard operator for three years from participation in a federal program that allows employment of temporary agricultural workers from outside the U.S. after investigators determined that the employer provided unsafe and unhealthy housing, failed to provide work promised in workers’ contracts, and subjected workers to verbal abuse and threats.

SAN JOSE, CA – Denying their workers overtime pay when required has had costly consequences for the operators of six northern California pizza franchise locations from whom the U.S. Department of Labor has recovered a total of $608,272 in back wages and liquidated damages for 33 workers.

Employer:                                          LI&YU Restaurant LLC, operating as 

APPLETON, WI – Despite the potentially deadly consequences of its actions, an Appleton contractor allowed three roofers to work at heights up to 18 feet without anchoring their fall protection, making it useless in preventing serious or fatal injuries.

In the week ending July 23, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 256,000, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 10,000 from 251,000 to 261,000. The 4-week moving average was 249,250, an increase of 6,250 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 2,500 from 240,500 to 243,000.

MINNEAPOLIS – An administrative law judge has dismissed a Minnesota company’s notice of contest and affirmed the U.S. Department of Labor finding that the employer violated a federal program that allows foreign, non-agricultural workers with H-2B visas to temporarily work in the U.S.

DAVIE, FL – In 2018, federal workplace safety investigators cited a Pompano Beach roofing contractor who exposed its workers to the construction industry’s most lethal hazard, falls from elevation. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration determined that the company’s failure to heed that warning claimed the life of a 25-year-old worker in February 2022.