CONWAY, SC – A recent U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigation serves as a useful reminder for companies that employ teenage students that putting work before school will receive more than a failing grade, it will likely come with violations and costly penalties.

HERNDON, VA – A federal contractor in Herndon that provides professional, technology and management services has entered into an agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor to resolve allegations that the company paid female information technology professionals less than the company paid their male counterparts.

In the week ending October 2, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 326,000, a decrease of 38,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 2,000 from 362,000 to 364,000. The 4-week moving average was 344,000, an increase of 3,500 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 500 from 340,000 to 340,500.

NEW YORK – The U.S. Department of Labor has entered into a conciliation agreement with Thomson Reuters Corp. to resolve alleged pay discrimination in the company’s U.S. headquarters office in New York.

VERONA, MO – Two complaints of unsafe working conditions at a Verona nutrition production plant led federal safety and health inspectors to investigate allegations of worker exposure to multiple safety and health hazards, including toxic substances, combustible dust and moving machinery parts.

VIRGINIA BEACH, VA – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs and Aecom Management Services have entered into an Early Resolution Conciliation Agreement to resolve allegations of hiring discrimination at its Virginia Beach location. 

HONOLULU – A Kailua gas and service station’s reckless disregard for compliance with the federal Fair Labor Standards Act has led to the recovery of $22,851 for five service technicians and cashiers denied overtime they earned when they worked more than 40 hours in a workweek.

AKRON, OH – After failing to timely forward $23,287 in employer contributions and employee payroll-deducted retirement contributions to his company’s individual retirement plan, an Akron business owner has been banned by a federal court from serving as a fiduciary in the future.

CLAREMORE, OK – An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration following the death of a 19-year-old worker at a Valmont Coatings’ facility in Claremore found the company failed to use proper rigging equipment and perform inspections and maintenance on cranes. The worker was attaching multiple small steel I-beams to a large lifting fixture when the entire assembly fell on him.

CHESTERFIELD, MI – A Chesterfield electrical subcontractor violated the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts by paying electricians, laborers and apprentices on a federal construction project less than the required prevailing wage rates and benefits.

CHICAGO – A 48-year-old worker for Tootsie Roll Industries LLC suffered a partial finger amputation after their employer allowed bypassed safety locks on a machine’s access doors that enabled a bag sealer to close on an employee’s finger.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor announced today an availability of up to $5 million in grant funding to support core standards to combat labor abuses by employers in Mexico’s tomato and chile pepper sectors’ supply chains. Mexico is the world’s largest exporter of tomatoes and chile peppers.

SAIPAN – A Saipan dry food, spice and canned food wholesaler paid four workers a fixed, “off-the-books” cash salary that dropped their regular hourly wage below the required federal $7.25 minimum wage rate, and denied them overtime when they worked more than 40 hours in a workweek, a federal investigation has found.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor and IBM US Public Service GBS have entered into a conciliation agreement to resolve allegations of gender-based pay discrimination within the federal contractor’s Functional Affirmative Action Program (FAAP) unit.

AstraZeneca agrees to pay $560K to resolve alleged race, gender-based pay discrimination at Wilmington, Delaware facility

DALLAS – The U.S. Department of Labor has entered into a conciliation agreement with Regus Management Group LLC, a leading global workspace provider, to resolve allegations of systemic race- and gender-based hiring discrimination at its facilities nationwide.

PITTSBURGH – A federal court in Pittsburgh has entered a consent judgment in which a company that provided land services for the oil and gas industry admitted liability for more than $40 million in back wages and damages after a U.S. Department of Labor investigation found Fair Labor Standards Act violations.

WASHINGTON – The Biden-Harris administration – through the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Treasury and the Office of Personnel Management – today issued an interim final rule with comment period to continue implementation of the No Surprises Act, a consumer protection law that helps curb the practice known as “surprise billing” for medical care.

TAMPA, FL – Despite warnings since March 2020 of unsafe measures of lead exposure, a Tampa battery recycling facility and smelter failed to make changes that resulted in worker exposure to lead inhalation hazards, a federal workplace safety investigation found.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor announced the recent awards of $195.7 million in grant funding to states and territories, and the District of Columbia to help them detect and combat fraud in their unemployment insurance programs.