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.

WASHINGTON – El Departamento de Trabajo de los Estados Unidos inició hoy una serie de eventos a nivel nacional para conmemorar la Semana de los Derechos Laborales 2023 en la sede del departamento en Washington, uniéndose a funcionarios del gobierno mexicano para destacar la importancia de los derechos de los trabajadores migrantes y de cómo las agencias de cumplimiento del departamento trabajan con los consulados de todo el país para garantizar que se respeten sus derechos y que los violadores sean responsables.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today kicked off a series of nationwide events to mark Labor Rights Week 2023 at the department’s Washington headquarters by joining officials of the Mexican Embassy and other diplomatic missions to highlight the importance of migrant workers’ rights and how the department’s enforcement agencies work with consulates across the nation to ensure these rights are upheld and that violators are held accountable.

RALEIGH, NC – Dos investigaciones federales han recuperado $540,221 en salarios para 268 trabajadores H-2A de un padre y un hijo que operaban como contratistas de mano de obra agrícola en Carolina del Norte, y cuyas violaciones de las leyes federales incluyeron no pagar a algunos trabajadores sus salarios completos, proporcionar viviendas seguras y adecuadas y reembolsar los costos de transporte de los trabajadores.

RALEIGH, NC – Two federal investigations have recovered $540,221 in wages for 268 H-2A workers from a father and son, then operating as North Carolina farm labor contractors, and whose violations of federal laws included failing to pay some workers their full wages, to provide safe and adequate housing and to reimburse workers’ transportation costs.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced that its Employee Benefits Security Administration will extend the grace period to obtain new Login.gov credentials for the EFAST2 filing system until Dec. 31, 2023, as part of the agency’s efforts to streamline the process for users.

Empleador:                            Patel Shippers LLC

                                                19925 SW 270th St.

Employer:                              Patel Shippers LLC

                                                19925 SW 270th St.

WASHINGTON – After severe wildfires swept across the Hawaiian island of Maui on Aug. 8, 2023, the state’s disaster declaration was approved, which cleared the way for federal aid to assist in recovery efforts. To support disaster-relief jobs, the U.S. Department of Labor today announced the initial award of $10.5 million to Hawaii.