INDIANOLA, MS – In the summer of 2022, U.S. Department of Labor leaders heard from a group of Black farmworkers in the Mississippi Delta about allegations of abuse and exploitation of Black farmworkers in some of the nation’s poorest counties, including egregious violations of their workplace rights.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Departments of Labor, State, Commerce and Homeland Security and the U.S. Agency for International Development have issued a business advisory to alert American businesses and individuals of the growing reputational, legal and economic risks in participating in the gold trade across sub-Saharan Africa.

Who:              

U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division
U.S. Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Tennessee Department of Health Division of Family Health and Wellness

What: “Working Mothers: What to Expect from Your Employer When You’re Expecting” webinar

DENVER – Cited 12 times since 2018 for endangering workers, a Utah-based solar provider allowed employees to work on an icy, snow-covered two-story roof in Johnstown without legally required fall protection in late December 2022, a U.S. Department of Labor safety investigation found.

MINNEAPOLIS – Following a five-day jury trial, a federal district court in Minneapolis has awarded $254,628 in back wages and liquidated damages to 21 drivers after the U.S. Department of Labor determined their employer, a non-emergency medical transportation company, misclassified them as independent contractors denying them overtime pay.

BOSTON - El Departamento de Trabajo ha recuperado $771,022 en salarios atrasados y $61,215 en concepto de daños y perjuicios para 47 personas empleadas en una empresa de paisajismo en Haverhill que no cumplía con los requisitos del programa federal de visas de trabajo H-2B y la Ley de Normas Justas de Trabajo.

BOSTON – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $771,022 in back wages and $61,215 in liquidated damages for 47 workers of a Haverhill landscaping company after the employer failed to comply with requirements of the federal H-2B worker program and the Fair Labor Standards Act. The H-2B Worker Program permits businesses to employ temporary visa workers for limited periods of time.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the initial award of $4,549,554 in funding to support cleanup and recovery activities in Guam after Typhoon Mawar caused flooding and extensive damage in May 2023.

Participants:

U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration

Georgia Tech Enterprise Innovation Institute for Safety, Health and Environmental Services

Archer Western E.R. Snell

Employer:                                  Drevo Inc.

                                                    55 Brooklyn Lane

SCHAUMBURG, IL – An administrative law judge has ordered a Schaumburg residential and commercial swimming pool company to pay $312,561 in back wages to 26 workers, employed under a federal guest worker visa program, after the U.S. Department of Labor found the employer failed to comply with the H-2B guest worker visa program.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor led the nation’s delegation to the 2023 International Labor Conference in Geneva from June 5 to 16, 2023.

Led by the department’s Deputy Undersecretary for International Affairs Thea Lee, the delegation sought to promote and protect workers’ rights globally. The key achievements at the conference included:

HERMITAGE, TN – A federal court in Nashville has affirmed the findings of an investigation that determined a Tennessee security and traffic control services provider and its owner misclassified 105 workers as independent contractors, including some who worked as security guards in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.

OKLAHOMA CITY - Mientras que docenas de trabajadores de salud en Oklahoma realizaron pruebas a muchísimas personas para detectar el coronavirus en carpas, habitaciones de hotel y otros espacios públicos durante el apogeo de la pandemia, su empleador los clasificó erróneamente como contratistas independientes y les negó los salarios por horas extras, beneficios y protecciones que más que ganaron.

OKLAHOMA CITY – While dozens of Oklahoma healthcare workers tested scores of people for coronavirus in tents, hotel rooms and other public spaces at the pandemic’s height, their employer misclassified them as independent contractors and denied them the overtime wages, benefits and protections they more than earned.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration today signed an agreement with an alliance of trade organizations, labor unions and industry stakeholders to better protect people who do trenching and excavation work.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor urges small business owners and representatives from local government entities to join the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration and other government agencies for a series of upcoming discussions on the potential impacts of a workplace heat standard on small businesses.

PROVIDENCE, RI – For the third time in three months, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited one of the nation’s largest discount retail chains, Dollar Tree Inc. for allowing hazardous conditions at one of its Rhode Island stores, this one in Coventry.

HACKENSACK, NJ – Three northern New Jersey supermarkets have paid more than $1.8 million in back wages and damages after federal investigators found the employers deliberately failed to pay required overtime rates to 226 employees who worked overtime at stores in Hackensack, Oakland and Waldwick.

In the week ending June 17, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 264,000, unchanged from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 2,000 from 262,000 to 264,000. The 4-week moving average was 255,750, an increase of 8,500 from the previous week's revised average. This is the highest level for this average since November 13, 2021 when it was 260,000. The previous week's average was revised up by 500 from 246,750 to 247,250.