CRYSTAL RIVER, FL – Few would argue with the fact that home healthcare nurses – who serve the needs of our communities and their most vulnerable – deserve all the wages they legally earn. When employers fail to pay workers like these correctly, the U.S. Department of Labor responds.

MARLTON, NJ – Six contractors constructing luxury single-family homes at the future site of Hawthorne Estates in Medford put workers at risk of serious or fatal injuries by failing to comply with federal requirements to prevent falls, the leading cause of death in the construction industry.

MINNEAPOLIS – A Minnesota lawn care and snow removal company took advantage of more than 70 temporary foreign workers – charging them higher rent than allowed, requiring them to pay for their international transportation and demanding payment to keep their jobs – all in violation of the federal H-2B Visa program. The program helps supply employers with temporary foreign workers when sufficient numbers of U.S.

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh issued the following statement on the April 2021 Employment Situation Report:

FORT MYERS, FL – An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division has recovered more than $36,000 in back wages for workers at a grocery store that denied them overtime pay required by the Fair Labor Standards Act.

WACO, TX – Moving machine parts have the potential to cause serious or fatal injuries when safety protections and procedures are ignored, and yet a Waco bath and shower manufacturer once again failed to provide its employees a safe and healthful workplace.

WICHITA, KS- The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division asks businesses in Kansas’ heavy construction industries to complete surveys to help the agency establish accurate prevailing wage rates, as required under the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts.

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking related to the adjudication of temporary need for employers seeking to hire for herding or production of livestock on the range jobs under the H-2A program.

In the week ending May 1, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 498,000, a decrease of 92,000 from the previous week's revised level. This is the lowest level for initial claims since March 14, 2020 when it was 256,000. The previous week's level was revised up by 37,000 from 553,000 to 590,000. The 4-week moving average was 560,000, a decrease of 61,000 from the previous week's revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since March 14, 2020 when it was 225,500. The previous week's average was revised up by 9,250 from 611,750 to 621,000.

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration today issued an Unemployment Insurance Program Letter that provides states with guidance on addressing unemployment insurance benefit overpayments established by states for programs authorized by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the withdrawal – effective May 6 – of the “Independent Contractor Rule,” to maintain workers’ rights to the minimum wage and overtime compensation protections of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

BRADENTON, FL – A federal administrative law judge has determined that a Bradenton behavioral healthcare center and its management company exposed workers to more than 50 attacks in a two-and-a-half-year period when residents kicked, punched, bit, scratched, pulled and used desk scissors as a weapon, and that both entities deserve to be sanctioned for destroying surveillance videos showing this workplace violence.

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Labor announced today that it is seeking nominations for members to serve on the newly reinstated National Advisory Committee on Apprenticeships.

FRANKLIN, TN – A Franklin lawn care company has paid $39,373 in back wages to 31 workers following an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor that found the employer violated the overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act.  

KANSAS CITY, KS – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, its Occupational Safety and Health Administration and its Employee Benefits Security Administration will host representatives of the IRS, the U.S. Small Business Administration and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to present a series of webinars for Kansas City-area employers and human resources professionals on each agency’s continued response during the coronavirus pandemic.

KANSAS CITY, MO – Amid heavy rain and widespread flooding in southwestern Missouri, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration urges workers and the public at large to avoid hazards they may encounter and learn how to protect themselves as they begin clean-up activities.

ATLANTA – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division has teamed up with the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration to offer a series of “Essential Workers – Essential Protections” webinars to educate employees and employers on critical workplace protections afforded to them under federal law. The webinars detail the workplace rights of people who have been keeping the country moving throughout the pandemic.

LORAIN, OH – Employers that hire temporary foreign workers must pay their international transportation and meal expenses while they travel from their home country, a federal requirement that a Lorain landscaping company violated when it left the workers it hired to pay their own way to the U.S.

BEVERLY HILLS, FL – Dollar Tree store workers across the country continue to face the same hazardous working conditions at the national discount chain as they have for many years. Since 2016, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has inspected company locations more than 300 times.

In the week ending April 24, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 553,000, a decrease of 13,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 19,000 from 547,000 to 566,000. The 4-week moving average was 611,750, a decrease of 44,000 from the previous week's revised average. This is the lowest level for this average since March 14, 2020 when it was 225,500. The previous week's average was revised up by 4,750 from 651,000 to 655,750.