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.

WASHINGTON – For the seventh year in a row, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration found none of the nation’s 12,000 mining operations met the criteria for one of the agency’s toughest enforcement tools, its pattern of violations screening.

In the week ending September 25, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 362,000, an increase of 11,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 351,000. The 4-week moving average was 340,000, an increase of 4,250 from the previous week's unrevised average of 335,750.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the award of nearly $68 million in grant funding to help 29 organizations in 20 states and territories connect job seekers to employment as the economy continues its recovery from the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. The grant awards are part of a total $90 million in funding announced on Aug. 19, 2021.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration has awarded $10,537,000 in grant funding to support safety and health training, and other programs. MSHA awarded grants to 46 states, the Navajo Nation and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

WASHINGTON – The U.S.

PITTSBURGH – A Pittsburgh-based company that provides IT support to health plan providers has agreed to pay $410,000 in back pay and interest after a federal compliance evaluation alleged the federal contractor’s pay practices discriminated against 67 employees in the Associate Consultant and Consultant positions.  

WESTWOOD, NJ – Owners of two Westwood car wash establishments and an oil change shop routinely shortchanged employees who worked long hours doing physically demanding work. As a result of a federal investigation and recent court order, the firm must pay $325,000 in back wages and liquidated damages for failing to pay the minimum wage and overtime. Some employees who worked as many as 70 hours in a workweek received only straight time for all the hours they worked.