State: California

Type of Award: National Dislocated Worker Grant supplemental

Supplemental Amount Approved: $13 million    

Total Funds Awarded: $31 million

Funding Awarded to:  California Employment Development Department

Number of Workers Served: Approximately 1,600

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. – Federal investigators have cited an Indiana landscaping company in the death of a 23-year-old ground crewman who died after being hospitalized with a core body temperature above 108 degrees. U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigators determined the employee collapsed after working more than nine hours in the direct sun when the heat index soared to 110 degrees near Poplar Bluff on July 22, 2016. His is one of 16 heat-related deaths reported to the OSHA since January 2016.

State: Massachusetts

Type of Award: National Dislocated Worker Grant

Supplemental Amount Approved: $566,250

Total Funds Awarded to Date: $4,901,016

Funding Awarded to:  Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development

Number of Workers Served: Approximately 309

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor announced today that it has entered into an agreement with the North Carolina Department of Commerce after a compliance review by the federal department’s Civil Rights Center found the state’s unemployment insurance and employment service programs deficient in providing services to those with limited English proficiency.

WASHINGTON – Fiduciaries of a health plan covering employees of a major western lumber producer have agreed to settle claims that they did not comply with the Affordable Care Act and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act when providing healthcare benefits and deciding worker claims for healthcare benefits.

PALO ALTO – The U.S. Department of Labor has filed a lawsuit charging that Palantir Technologies, a Palo Alto technology company, discriminated systematically against Asian job applicants in its hiring process and selection procedures.

Date of Action: Sept. 23, 2016

Type of Action: Complaint, Consent Judgment and Order

Name of Defendants: Jacky's Galaxie Providence, Inc., doing business as Jacky's Waterplace & Sushi Bar, and Kin Wah Ko. 200 Exchange St., Providence, Rhode Island.

Date of Action: Sept. 22, 2016

Type of Action: Complaint

Name(s) of Defendants: Steven Keares Inc.
Harry Keares
Steven Keares Inc. 401(k) Retirement Plan

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor announced today the award of $80.3 million in YouthBuild grants to non-profit organizations in 35 states to help young people struggling to reach key educational and career milestones and to equip themselves to be successful in the workforce and engaged in their communities.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced it has awarded a total of $153,836 in grants to organizations to support the planning and research of portable retirement benefit plans for low-wage workers.

Participants: U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Turner Construction Company, area trade unions.

Background: OSHA and Turner Construction Turner Company established a partnership to protect workers on the CH2 Data Center project in Northlake. The partnership includes trade unions and 15 subcontractors, with a combined workforce of more than 500 employees. Construction of the $275 million 22.8 megawatt data center is expected to be complete in 2018.

In the week ending September 17, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 252,000, a decrease of 8,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 260,000. The 4-week moving average was 258,500, a decrease of 2,250 from the previous week's unrevised average of 260,750.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor announced today over $20.4 million in contract awards to 14 national industry intermediaries and national equity partners to expand apprenticeship opportunities across the U.S.

CONWAY, Ark. – Landing a job that pays an average of $50,000 a year with a household name in the information technology industry is something to make any worker proud. It was an opportunity denied allegedly to more than 500 job applicants at the Hewlett-Packard Co. in Conway, as the company failed to provide equal opportunity for workers of all races and ethnicities to compete for well-paid professional positions.

HARTFORD, Conn. – The U.S. Department of Labor has sued a Bridgeport nursing home and its chief officer alleging that they diverted millions of dollars from the company’s retirement plan improperly to a religious corporation and to themselves. 

WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez issued the following statement on the filing of lawsuits by a group of states, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other organizations in the Eastern District of Texas challenging the update to the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime rules for white-collar, salaried workers:

BOLIVAR, Ohio – One of the nation’s largest discount retailers continues to ignore federal workplace safety inspectors who have found repeated instances where the company endangers workers and customers alike by blocking exit routes with stacked merchandise.

Date of Action: Sept. 16, 2016

Type of Action: Complaint

Name of Defendants: Homestead Physicians P.A.
Lorn Leitman
Homestead Physicians P.A. 401(k) Plan

Employer name: Koch Foods of Mississippi LLC

Inspection site: 108 Morris Tullos Drive
Morton, Mississippi 39117    

Citations issued: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued citations to the poultry processing producer on Sept. 16, 2016, for nine serious safety violations.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor has announced a two-month extension of the comment period on the Form 5500 Modernization Proposals.