Employer name:        Comfort Air of Grand Junction LLC

Investigation site:     746 Scarlet St.

                                            Grand Junction, CO 81505

EAST LAKE, OH ‒ Responding to the sixth amputation injury reported by an Ohio musical instrument manufacturer in the past eight years, federal investigators found employees at the East Lake facility were injured at four times the industry average rate in the past five years. 

MIAMI – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $901,625 in back wages and liquidated damages for 75 workers of a Florida grocery store enterprise after finding their employer wrongly exempted them from eligibility for overtime pay.

WASHINGTON – Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su issued the following statement in response to the Bureau of Labor Statistics release of its annual Union Membership data:

Read this news release in English.

WILMINGTON, NC: El Departamento de Trabajo de los EE. UU. recuperó $168,796 en salarios atrasados para 51 trabajadores de una empresa contratista de respuesta a tormentas de Wilmington que los clasificó erróneamente como contratistas independientes y no les pagó durante varios meses después de terminar el trabajo.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration today announced that it is amending its Procedures Governing the Filing and Processing of Prohibited Transaction Exemption Applications. 

Read this news release En Español. 

WILMINGTON, NC – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $168,796 in back wages for 51 workers at a Wilmington storm response contractor that misclassified them as independent contractors and failed to pay them for several months after work was completed.

WASHINGTON –The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the second cohort of its Youth Systems Building Academy, an innovative effort to increase and enhance employment opportunities for youth. The 10 additional communities and their partners will receive individualized training and tailored technical assistance from the department to help develop, test, implement or scale systems that engage and support young people entering the workforce. 

WASHINGTON – The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement’s Interagency Labor Committee for Monitoring and Enforcement, co-chaired by the U.S. Department of Labor and the Office of the Trade Representative, today requested the government of Mexico conduct a review at Atento call centers in Pachuca de Soto, Hidalgo. The committee found evidence that workers’ rights have been denied at these centers.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor announced today that its Employee Benefits Security Administration, the Department of the Treasury, the IRS and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.

FAIRFIELD, OH – Federal inspectors examining injury and illness records at a Fairfield food services warehouse found workers suffered severe injuries at nearly four times the average rate for their industry, with a high percentage of these injuries categorized as ergonomic musculoskeletal disorders.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor announced today that its Employee Benefits Security Administration released a proposed regulation on automatic portability transactions under SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022. The goal of automatic portability transactions is to help workers keep track of their retirement savings accounts and improve retirement security by reducing cash-outs when they change jobs.

MONROE, OH ‒ Responding to an employer report that a worker sustained a partial finger amputation while conducting cleaning operations at an Ohio automotive carpet manufacturer, federal safety inspectors found workers were exposed to operating machine parts as they cleared excess fiber material off chains, sprockets and other equipment. 

BRAINTREE, MA – A federal investigation has found that a Stoughton general contractor could have prevented an employee from suffering fatal injuries in June 2023 if the employer had followed required safety regulations and trained workers on the safe operation of heavy equipment at a Brockton work site.

NASHVILLE, TN – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $47,728 in back wages and liquidated damages for two former employees of two separate Tennessee-based healthcare providers that violated their rights to protected leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act.

In the week ending January 13, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 187,000, a decrease of 16,000 from the previous week's revised level. This is the lowest level for initial claims since September 24, 2022 when it was 182,000. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 202,000 to 203,000. The 4-week moving average was 203,250, a decrease of 4,750 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 250 from 207,750 to 208,000.

ATLANTA – A global electric vehicle battery manufacturer exposed employees at its Commerce plant to serious and potentially disabling safety and health hazards, a U.S. Department of Labor workplace safety inspection found.

The department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited SK Battery America Inc. with six serious violations and one other-than-serious violation after finding the company:

FOREST PARK, IL – For the fourth time since 2007, Proviso Township High School District 209 has been found in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act, this time for failing to pay public school security guards overtime wages.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor announced today that its Employee Benefits Security Administration has issued guidance to improve retirement security through pension-linked emergency savings accounts, part of the implementation of the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022.

INDIANAPOLIS – For the third time in five years, federal investigators found an Indianapolis security company violated federal wage laws by failing to pay guards overtime at time and one-half their regular rate of pay for hours over 40 in a workweek.