SPOKANE, WA– An extensive U.S. Department of Labor investigation into the pay and employment practices at 23 stores operated by a Spokane-based supermarket chain has recovered more than $350,000 in back wages and damages for 602 employees and assessed penalties of $72,862 for the employer’s willful violations.

LOGAN TOWNSHIP, NJ – A federal workplace safety investigation has again found workers at an Amazon fulfillment center exposed to ergonomic hazards, this time at a Logan Township facility.

Employer:    Alley Enterprises LLC, operating as Central Restaurant, 129 Coosa St., Montgomery, AL 36104

LEXINGTON, SC – A federal court has sentenced a South Carolina labor contractor — Balcazar Nature Harvesting LLC and its operators — after a U.S. Department of Labor and multi-agency investigation found the employers subjected migrant farmworkers to exploitative labor, confiscated passports and housed workers in unsafe and unhealthy conditions.

WASHINGTON – To support efforts to address Michigan’s continuing opioid crisis, the U.S. Department of Labor today announced an incremental award of $1,025,221 for the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity to fund employment and training services and disaster-relief jobs for workers in 24 of the state’s counties.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced a final rule, “Pre-enforcement Notice and Conciliation Procedures,” to create a streamlined, efficient, and flexible process that will enable the Office of Federal Contract Compliance to employ its resources strategically to remove barriers to equal employment opportunity.

In the week ending July 29, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 227,000, an increase of 6,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 221,000. The 4-week moving average was 228,250, a decrease of 5,500 from the previous week's unrevised average of 233,750.

Employer name:       Mt. Clifton Fruit Company LLC

Investigation site:     17581 Mechanicsville Road, Timberville, VA 22853

HOUSTON – Despite an extensive history of serious and repeat violations dating back more than a decade, a Houston steel erection company again failed to correct fall protection systems hazards, a federal workplace safety investigation has found.

Who:  U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Region 4       

What:  Whistleblower protections webinar

When:  Aug. 16, 2023, 1-3 p.m. EDT  

SALT LAKE CITY – A federal court in Utah has issued a preliminary injunction ordering the removal of the CEO and co-owner of Ascent Construction Inc. in Farmington as trustee of the company’s employee stock ownership plan after the U.S. Department of Labor learned he used more than $300,000 in the plan’s employee retirement funds to pay company business expenses.

YUMA, AZ – A federal investigation into the pay practices of a Yuma sports bar and grill has recovered $114,996 in back wages and damages for 86 workers employed by three owners who learned that denying employees overtime wages — deliberately and knowingly — is a bad and costly wager.

WASHINGTON – As people around the globe recognize World Breastfeeding Week and the U.S. honors National Breastfeeding Month, the U.S. Department of Labor today launched “Power to Pump,” a nationwide campaign to raise awareness of protections for millions of additional nursing workers to express milk.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor and U.S. Trade Representative today announced an agreement with the government of Mexico on a course of remediation at the Draxton auto parts facility in Irapuato, Guanajuato, in response to the second U.S. self-initiated request for review under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement’s Rapid Response Labor Mechanism.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor announced today that impact inspections completed by its Mine Safety and Health Administration at 18 mines in 12 states in June 2023 led the agency to issue 242 violations. The agency began impact inspections after the deaths of 29 miners in an explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine in April 2010, one of the deadliest in U.S. history.

MIAMI – The U.S. Department of Labor has found that a Miami excavation contractor with a history of federal workplace safety violations could have prevented the death of a 48-year-old diver – who drowned while removing debris in a canal in 8 feet of murky water – by having required rescue procedures in place.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced that its Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued a heat hazard alert to remind employers of their obligation to protect workers against heat illness or injury in outdoor and indoor workplaces.

HONOLULU – A federal court has required the owners and operators of two residential care facilities in Kaneohe to pay $287,279 in wages and liquidated damages to 23 caregivers after a U.S. Department of Labor investigation found the employers intentionally denied them overtime wages.

Employer name:                   AHG Services LLC 

Investigation site:                2225 Piedmont St.

Employer name:              Sloan & Williams Winery LLC

Investigation site:           401 S. Main St.

                                                  Grapevine, TX 76051