In the week ending January 20, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 214,000, an increase of 25,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 2,000 from 187,000 to 189,000. The 4-week moving average was 202,250, a decrease of 1,500 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 500 from 203,250 to 203,750.

Employers:    

Arora Hospitality Group LLC

Banee Corporation

Harjap Hospitality Group LLC 

MKE Oil Corporation

Oshkosh Hospitality Group LLC 

Hardeep Arora                        

MIAMI: El Departamento de Trabajo de los Estados Unidos ha recuperado $901,625 en concepto de salarios atrasados e indemnización por daños y perjuicios para 75 trabajadores de una tienda de comestibles de Florida tras comprobar que su empleador les exento erróneamente del pago de horas extraordinarias.

LINCOLN, NE – A federal court has issued an order holding a Nebraska roofing contractor — who has stalled federal investigators for nearly a year — in contempt of court and imposing a fine of $100 a day if he fails to comply with a subpoena to provide the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration with documents necessary for an investigation of an employee's fall off a residential roof in Lincoln in February 2023.

Employer name:  Kanawha County Parks and Recreation Commission, doing business as Big Bend Golf, doing business as Coonskin Park

Investigation sites: 

375 Henry C Hoppy Shores Drive, Charleston, West Virginia 25302

151 Riverview Drive, Tornado, West Virginia 25202

Employer name:        Comfort Air of Grand Junction LLC

Investigation site:     746 Scarlet St.

                                            Grand Junction, CO 81505

EAST LAKE, OH ‒ Responding to the sixth amputation injury reported by an Ohio musical instrument manufacturer in the past eight years, federal investigators found employees at the East Lake facility were injured at four times the industry average rate in the past five years. 

MIAMI – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $901,625 in back wages and liquidated damages for 75 workers of a Florida grocery store enterprise after finding their employer wrongly exempted them from eligibility for overtime pay.

WASHINGTON – Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su issued the following statement in response to the Bureau of Labor Statistics release of its annual Union Membership data:

Read this news release in English.

WILMINGTON, NC: El Departamento de Trabajo de los EE. UU. recuperó $168,796 en salarios atrasados para 51 trabajadores de una empresa contratista de respuesta a tormentas de Wilmington que los clasificó erróneamente como contratistas independientes y no les pagó durante varios meses después de terminar el trabajo.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration today announced that it is amending its Procedures Governing the Filing and Processing of Prohibited Transaction Exemption Applications. 

Read this news release En Español. 

WILMINGTON, NC – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $168,796 in back wages for 51 workers at a Wilmington storm response contractor that misclassified them as independent contractors and failed to pay them for several months after work was completed.

WASHINGTON –The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the second cohort of its Youth Systems Building Academy, an innovative effort to increase and enhance employment opportunities for youth. The 10 additional communities and their partners will receive individualized training and tailored technical assistance from the department to help develop, test, implement or scale systems that engage and support young people entering the workforce. 

WASHINGTON – The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement’s Interagency Labor Committee for Monitoring and Enforcement, co-chaired by the U.S. Department of Labor and the Office of the Trade Representative, today requested the government of Mexico conduct a review at Atento call centers in Pachuca de Soto, Hidalgo. The committee found evidence that workers’ rights have been denied at these centers.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor announced today that its Employee Benefits Security Administration, the Department of the Treasury, the IRS and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.

FAIRFIELD, OH – Federal inspectors examining injury and illness records at a Fairfield food services warehouse found workers suffered severe injuries at nearly four times the average rate for their industry, with a high percentage of these injuries categorized as ergonomic musculoskeletal disorders.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor announced today that its Employee Benefits Security Administration released a proposed regulation on automatic portability transactions under SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022. The goal of automatic portability transactions is to help workers keep track of their retirement savings accounts and improve retirement security by reducing cash-outs when they change jobs.

MONROE, OH ‒ Responding to an employer report that a worker sustained a partial finger amputation while conducting cleaning operations at an Ohio automotive carpet manufacturer, federal safety inspectors found workers were exposed to operating machine parts as they cleared excess fiber material off chains, sprockets and other equipment. 

BRAINTREE, MA – A federal investigation has found that a Stoughton general contractor could have prevented an employee from suffering fatal injuries in June 2023 if the employer had followed required safety regulations and trained workers on the safe operation of heavy equipment at a Brockton work site.

NASHVILLE, TN – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $47,728 in back wages and liquidated damages for two former employees of two separate Tennessee-based healthcare providers that violated their rights to protected leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act.