In the week ending August 24, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 215,000, an increase of 4,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 2,000 from 209,000 to 211,000. The 4-week moving average was 214,500, a decrease of 500 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 500 from 214,500 to 215,000.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Department of Labor has awarded nearly $1.5 million in grant funding to organizations in Illinois, Virginia, and Wisconsin to help recruit, train, and retain more women in quality pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs. The grants will help women pursue careers in manufacturing, infrastructure, cybersecurity, health care, and other industries.

The 2019 Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations (WANTO) grant recipients are:

WASHINGTON, DC - The U.S. Department of Labor has announced the award of $4 million for a four-year cooperative agreement to operate a policy development center focused on youth with disabilities. The center will build on the work of the Department's Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth.

ARLINGTON, VA The U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) today announced that it will publish a Request for Information (RFI) in the Federal Register seeking data on economically and technologically feasible methods to protect miners' health from exposure to quartz. The RFI includes an examination of an appropriately reduced permissible exposure limit, potential new or developing protective technologies, and/or technical and educational assistance.

PICAYUNE, MS – Maxem Health Urgent Care will pay $147,622 in wages to 16 employees after the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) found the operator of two Mississippi health care facilities violated the overtime and recordkeeping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

DALLAS, TX – The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has ordered Kinder Morgan Inc. – an energy infrastructure company based in Houston, Texas - to pay a former employee back wages, damages, and attorney's fees after an investigation found that the company violated the whistleblower provisions of the Pipeline Safety Improvement Act (PSIA).

BILOXI, MS – Doleac Electrical Co. Inc. – based in Hattiesburg, Mississippi – has paid $37,060 in back wages to 32 employees to remedy Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the Davis Bacon and Related Acts (DBRA) violations found by the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division (WHD).

TROY, MI – The U.S. Department of Labor has found Twin Pines Landscaping Inc. – based in Troy, Michigan – in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the labor provisions of the H-2B temporary visa program. An investigation by the Department's Wage and Hour Division (WHD) found the landscaping company failed to pay overtime, failed to pay required prevailing wages, and offered more favorable employment terms to temporary foreign employees than to U.S. workers.

RIVIERA BEACH, FL – The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited UPS Inc. for failing to protect employees working in excessive heat after an employee suffered heat-related injuries near the Riviera Beach, Florida, facility. The company faces $13,260 in penalties, the maximum penalty allowed by law for a serious violation.

JACKSON, MS – Three restaurants in Madison, Ridgeland, and Flowood, Mississippi, have paid $50,338 in back wages to 229 employees after an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division (WHD) determined the employers violated requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

CRESTVIEW, FL – After an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division (WHD), Lockheed Martin Corp. has paid $327,271 in back wages and liquidated damages to 20 employees for violating provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the McNamara-O'Hara Service Contract Act (SCA) at a Crestview, Florida, work site.

PHILADELPHIA, PA – After a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Labor, federal contractor Cintas Corp. – based in Cincinnati, Ohio – has agreed to pay $424,463 in back pay and interest to resolve hiring and pay discrimination allegations against 197 applicants and employees.

NATCHEZ, MS – AJFC Community Action Inc. – a Natchez, Mississippi-based non-profit agency providing Head Start services to children – has paid $62,603 in back wages to 33 employees after a U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division (WHD) investigation identified overtime violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

MOUNT DORA, FL - After an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division (WHD), AG Labor LLC – based in Plant City, Florida – has paid $16,332 in back wages and damages to 44 employees for violating requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the H-2A visa program. The employer also paid $2,082 in civil money penalties for the H-2A violations.

CHARLOTTE, NC – The U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, Charlotte Division, has entered a consent judgment and order between the U.S. Department of Labor and Steven Matthew Good, William H. Winn Jr., SmartCore LLC, and the SmartCore LLC Group Health Benefit Plan requiring them to pay $21,404 to the plan participants to cover unpaid medical claims or to reimburse their contributions to the plan.

ORLANDO, FL – After an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division (WHD), Flipper's Pizza T. & B. Inc. – operating 11 Central Florida Flippers Pizzeria restaurants – has paid $27,425 in back wages to 70 employees for violating the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The employer also paid $1,810 in civil money penalties for a child labor violation.

CHATTANOOGA, TN – The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has ordered the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to reinstate a former employee who TVA placed on paid administrative leave, and then later terminated in retaliation for raising nuclear safety concerns.

BOLINGBROOK, IL – The U.S. Department of Labor and the Joint Outreach Task Group will provide information about the benefits available to current and former nuclear weapons workers from covered facilities, and their families, under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act on September 5, 2019.  

WHAT: Outreach Event on Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act Benefits
The event will include presentations for claimants and authorized representatives. 

CLINTON TWP, MI – Brickworks Property Restoration – a masonry company based in Clinton Township, Michigan – will pay $130,788 in back wages to 58 employees after the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division (WHD) found the employer violated the Fair Labor Standards Act's (FLSA) overtime and recordkeeping provisions.

GLENDALE, CA – A Glendale, California, software engineering company has paid $48,193 to one employee after a U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division (WHD) investigation found the employer violated labor provisions of the H-1B foreign labor certification program.  

WHD investigators found Assigncorp failed to provide work for the employee – as required by the visa program – when business slowed, and did not pay the hourly rate required in the program's Labor Certification Application (LCA) for this idle time, a violation of federal law.