May 9, 2024

Court enters preliminary injunction after Indiana liquor store owner agrees to stop intimidating workers who speak with federal wage investigators

SOUTH BEND, IN – The operator of 61 liquor stores in two states must pay $354,633 in back wages and damages to 156 employees, post a statement and play a recorded video message to inform workers of their right to cooperate with federal wage investigators and notify them that he is subject to a federal lawsuit for retaliating against workers and failing to pay required wages, a U.S. District Court has ordered. 

May 9, 2024

Departamento de Trabajo encuentra niños ilegalmente en trabajos peligrosos, logra $4,8 millones para trabajadores de industria avícola en California

WASHINGTON – En uno de los mayores acuerdos por infracción salarial jamás alcanzados para trabajadores avícolas de EE.UU., un tribunal federal de Los Ángeles ha distado una sentencia de consentimiento que ordena a Fu Qian Chen Lu, Bruce Shu Hua Lok y otros, como propietarios y operadores de una red de procesadores y distribuidores avícolas de California, pagar $4,8 millones en s

May 9, 2024

CORRECTED: US Department of Labor invites food service industry employers, workers, other stakeholders to join webinar on National Waitstaff Day

 

Who:               U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division          

                        South Carolina Human Affairs Commission

May 9, 2024

Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report

In the week ending May 4, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 231,000, an increase of 22,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 208,000 to 209,000. The 4-week moving average was 215,000, an increase of 4,750 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 250 from 210,000 to 210,250.

May 8, 2024

Department of Labor takes critical step in heat safety rulemaking, continues heightened enforcement efforts, focuses on dangers to agricultural workers

WASHINGTON – The Department of Labor has taken an important step in addressing the dangers of workplace heat and moved closer to publishing a proposed rule to reducing the significant health risks of heat exposure for U.S. workers in outdoor and indoor settings. 

May 8, 2024

Department of Labor plans to restructure workplace safety, health regional operations strategically to protect workers

WASHINGTON – The Department of Labor today announced strategic changes to the structure of its Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s regional operations designed to direct its resources effectively and make the agency more resilient. 

May 8, 2024

Judge upholds findings that Maryland subcontractor denied 55 workers on federally funded project their full pay, fringe benefits, owes $186K

WASHINGTON – An administrative law judge has upheld the findings of a U.S. Department of Labor investigation into the employment practices of a Bowie, Maryland concrete subcontractor and its owners that found the employers wrongly classified workers on a federally funded affordable housing project in the District of Columbia in violation of federal regulations.

May 7, 2024

Department of Labor encourages construction industry employers, stakeholders to join 2024 National Safety Stand-Down to Prevent Falls

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration is encouraging construction industry employers and workers across the nation to take part in its 11th annual National Stand-Down to Prevent Falls in Construction from May 6-10. The event focuses attention on preventing the industry’s leading cause of worker deaths.

May 7, 2024

Department of Labor cites goods transport provider after truck strikes grain yard manager, weeks after federal inspectors warn of hazards 

FREMONT, NE – Responding to an employer’s report that a worker needed hospitalization after being struck by a semi-tractor-trailer and suffering severe injuries at a Fremont grain yard, federal workplace safety inspectors identified 23 violations by the worker’s employer, including failing to protect workers from being struck by moving vehicles.

May 7, 2024

El Departamento de Trabajo de EE. UU. descubre que restaurante en Arkansas despidió ilegalmente a un trabajador que hizo uso de una ausencia médica protegida por la ley federal

 

Nombre del empleador:       Mi Casita Mexican Restaurant Inc., que opera bajo el nombre comercial El Lorito

Sitios de investigación:        3105 S 70th St. 

May 7, 2024

US Department of Labor finds Arkansas restaurants’ operator illegally fired worker who used federally protected medical leave

Employer name:               Mi Casita Mexican Restaurant Inc., operating as El Lorito 

Investigation sites:         3105 S 70th St. 

May 7, 2024

Settlement affirms willful OSHA violations, $215K penalties, against contractors for fall hazards at multiple New Jersey work sites

HASBROUCK HEIGHTS, NJ – Two related North Jersey construction contractor companies – Primetime Construction LLC and its subsidiary Primetime Contractors LLC of Paterson – have agreed to pay $215,000 in penalties and undertake several significant safety measures to resolve numerous safety violations found at five Paterson construction worksites in 2021, as part of a settlement with the U.S. Department of Labor.

May 7, 2024

Federal court orders United Employee Benefit Fund’s former attorney and law firm to pay $883K in restitution to the fund, $176K in penalties

CHICAGO –The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a federal consent order and judgment requiring three service providers of the United Employee Benefit Fund a Chicago-based multiple employer welfare arrangement, to restore $883,333 to the fund and pay $176,666 in penalties for violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

May 7, 2024

St. Louis contractor faces $258K in fines after exposing roofing workers to potentially deadly fall hazards 5 times in 7 weeks at Wentzville worksites

ST. LOUIS – Federal workplace safety inspectors have cited a Missouri roofing contractor for 21 violations for illegally exposing roof workers — five times in seven weeks — at six Wentzville residential worksites to the dangers of fall hazards, the construction industry’s leading cause of serious injuries and death. 

May 6, 2024

Fayette Janitorial Service agrees to pay $649K in penalties, hire outside consultant to prevent child labor employment in sanitation contracts

SIOUX CITY, IA – The Department of Labor has entered into a consent order and judgment, approved by a federal court in Iowa on May 6, 2024, with a Tennessee cleaning contractor that requires the employer to pay $649,304 in civil money penalties, hire a third-party to review and implement company policies to prevent the employment of children in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act and establish a program for reporting concerns

May 6, 2024

Department of Labor cites Midwest bread products supplier after worker suffers disabling injury at Sun Prairie facility

SUN PRAIRIE, WI – A U.S. Department of Labor investigation into an employee’s disabling injuries at a Sun Prairie commercial baking facility in October 2023 found the well-known Midwest bread supplier again violated workplace safety regulations.

May 6, 2024

US Department of Labor recovers $190K in back wages, damages for 4 employees denied minimum wage, overtime by Lansing group homes operator

Employers:    Medhealth Suppliers & Providers Inc, operating as Evergreen Place, Evergreen Place 2 

                        and Bedford Home, Lansing, Michigan

May 6, 2024

US Department of Labor awards $696K to continue employment, training services for coastal communities in 6 counties affected by layoffs in Maine

WASHINGTON – The Department of Labor today announced an incremental award of $696,085 to Coastal Counties Workforce Inc. to continue employment and training services for dislocated workers affected by layoffs in Cumberland, Knox, Lincoln, Sagadahoc, Waldo and York counties.

May 6, 2024

US Department of Labor finds Chicago-area medical glass manufacturer again ignoring machine safety procedures, issues repeat violations

CHICAGO HEIGHTS, IL – A follow-up workplace safety inspection at a metro Chicago manufacturer of medical glass bottles and vials found the company continues to fail in its obligation to protect workers by training them in machine safety procedures.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration returned to Gerresheimer Glass Inc., in Chicago Heights on Jan. 31, 2024, to verify compliance after inspections in October and December 2022 found workers exposed to machine hazards. 

May 3, 2024

Department of Labor will celebrate benefits of Registered Apprenticeships as valuable pathway to good jobs during first Youth Apprenticeship Week

WASHINGTON – The Department of Labor today announced that the nation will celebrate the benefits of Registered Apprenticeships and the opportunities they create for youth and young adults with 320 special events and more than 70 proclamations scheduled across the U.S. to mark the first annual Youth Apprenticeship Week from May 5-11.