Date of Action:          Aug. 30, 2023

Type of Action:         Employee Retirement Income Security Act complaint filing

Company/Owners:   Virtual Matrix Corp.

Suman Thotakura

WASHINGTON – U.S. Acting Secretary of Labor Julie A. Su issued the following statement on Labor Day 2023:

WASHINGTON – Acting U.S. Secretary of Labor Julie A. Su issued the following statement on the August 2023 Employment Situation report: 

BOSTON – Leaders of the U.S. Department of Labor convened yesterday in Boston for a roundtable discussion on the importance of mental health friendly workplaces, particularly in the building trades. The event was held at the Iron Workers Local 7 Union Hall.

HOUSTON – The U.S. Department of Labor has cited a Stafford engine component manufacturer again for failing to correct safety hazards that caused an employee’s finger amputation in March 2022.

Who:  

U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration

Response crews and residents in areas affected by Hurricane Idalia

WASHINGTON – To help identify and address barriers workers face when accessing state unemployment insurance benefits, the U.S. Department of Labor today announced the award of more than $3 million to the state of Georgia.

WASHINGTON – To celebrate and recognize extraordinary individuals whose distinctive contributions to the field of labor elevated working conditions, wages and overall quality of life of America's working families, the U.S. Department of Labor today announced new inductees into its Hall of Honor.

The inductions will begin on Sept. 18 with a ceremony at which Acting Secretary Julie Su will honor the hall’s first 2023 inductees, the El Monte Thai Garment Workers.  

In the week ending August 26, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 228,000, a decrease of 4,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 2,000 from 230,000 to 232,000. The 4-week moving average was 237,500, an increase of 250 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 500 from 236,750 to 237,250. 

SAN FRANCISCO – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a default judgment to recover $153,768 for four people whose former employer abandoned its employee retirement plan more than two decades ago, leaving no one to administer the plan and authorize distribution of its funds, a violation of federal law.

WASHINGTON – The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement’s Interagency Labor Committee for Monitoring and Enforcement today requested the government of Mexico review an allegation of labor rights’ violations at the MasAir cargo airline in Mexico City. The Department of Labor and Trade Representative co-chair the committee.

BRECKENRIDGE, CO – The owner of an Avon construction company whose failure to follow required federal safety standards led to the 2021 trench collapse death of a 23-year-old employee in Breckenridge now awaits a November sentencing date after pleading guilty to manslaughter on Aug. 3, 2023.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor announced today that its Mine Safety and Health Administration completed impact inspections at 15 mines in 12 states in July 2023, issuing 288 violations and four safeguard notices. MSHA began impact inspections after an explosion killed 29 miners at West Virginia’s Upper Big Branch Mine in 2010.

Who:               U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration

Career Technical Education Center in Idaho Falls

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced a notice of proposed rulemaking that would restore and extend overtime protections to 3.6 million salaried workers. The proposed rule would guarantee overtime pay for most salaried workers earning less than $1,059 per week, about $55,000 per year.

ALBANY, NY – A federal investigation has found that a Cortland facility operated by an Illinois global packager and distributor of personal care products violated laws protecting domestic and temporary nonimmigrant workers and recovered more than $277,000 for 50 underpaid workers.

SAN ANTONIO – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, along with the Consulate of Mexico in San Antonio, hosted an outreach event for low-wage and at-risk workers and their advocates Aug. 29, 2023, at the Mexican Consulate in San Antonio as part of Labor Rights Week, August 28, through September 1.

CHICAGO – A federal court has ordered the operators of a Huntley restaurant to pay eight employees more than $105,000 in back wages and damages, despite the employers’ attempt to interfere with a U.S. Department of Labor investigation that found they illegally denied the workers their earned overtime wages.

MANCHESTER, NH – A U.S. Department of Labor investigation into the pay practices and use of child labor at a southern Maine bar and grill has found the employers failed to properly pay 36 workers their wages, falsified timecards to avoid paying overtime, and allowed minors to work long hours in excess of the legal limits. The investigation found that one of these underaged employees cleaned a hazardous meat slicer.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced a notice of proposed rulemaking to revise regulations regarding who can be authorized by employees to act as their representative to accompany the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration compliance officers during physical workplace inspections.