October 5, 2021

US Department of Labor recovers $94K for 8 laborers after investigation finds Detroit area contractor failed to pay prevailing wages, fringe benefits

CHESTERFIELD, MI – A Chesterfield electrical subcontractor violated the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts by paying electricians, laborers and apprentices on a federal construction project less than the required prevailing wage rates and benefits.

October 5, 2021

US Department of Labor proposes $136K in fines after worker at Tootsie Roll manufacturing plant suffers amputation injury

CHICAGO – A 48-year-old worker for Tootsie Roll Industries LLC suffered a partial finger amputation after their employer allowed bypassed safety locks on a machine’s access doors that enabled a bag sealer to close on an employee’s finger.

October 4, 2021

US Department of Labor announces $5M in funding opportunity to combat forced, child labor abuses in Mexico’s tomato, chile pepper sectors

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor announced today an availability of up to $5 million in grant funding to support core standards to combat labor abuses by employers in Mexico’s tomato and chile pepper sectors’ supply chains. Mexico is the world’s largest exporter of tomatoes and chile peppers.

October 4, 2021

US Department of Labor recovers $21K in back wages for workers after finding Saipan wholesaler violated minimum wage, overtime rules

SAIPAN – A Saipan dry food, spice and canned food wholesaler paid four workers a fixed, “off-the-books” cash salary that dropped their regular hourly wage below the required federal $7.25 minimum wage rate, and denied them overtime when they worked more than 40 hours in a workweek, a federal investigation has found.

October 4, 2021

US Labor Department, IBM enter agreement to resolve alleged gender-based pay discrimination at Washington location

WASHINGTONThe U.S. Department of Labor and IBM US Public Service GBS have entered into a conciliation agreement to resolve allegations of gender-based pay discrimination within the federal contractor’s Functional Affirmative Action Program (FAAP) unit.

October 4, 2021

AstraZeneca agrees to pay $560K to resolve alleged race, gender-based pay discrimination at Wilmington, Delaware facility

AstraZeneca agrees to pay $560K to resolve alleged race, gender-based pay discrimination at Wilmington, Delaware facility

October 4, 2021

US Department of Labor, Regus Management Group reach agreement to resolve alleged race- and gender-based hiring discrimination nationwide

DALLAS – The U.S. Department of Labor has entered into a conciliation agreement with Regus Management Group LLC, a leading global workspace provider, to resolve allegations of systemic race- and gender-based hiring discrimination at its facilities nationwide.

October 1, 2021

Federal court enters judgment affirming US Department of Labor finding oil, energy services employer misclassified 700 Pennsylvania workers

PITTSBURGH – A federal court in Pittsburgh has entered a consent judgment in which a company that provided land services for the oil and gas industry admitted liability for more than $40 million in back wages and damages after a U.S. Department of Labor investigation found Fair Labor Standards Act violations.

September 30, 2021

Biden-Harris administration issues third rule to implement No Surprises Act, protect Americans from surprise medical bills

WASHINGTON The Biden-Harris administration – through the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Treasury and the Office of Personnel Management – today issued an interim final rule with comment period to continue implementation of the No Surprises Act, a consumer protection law that helps curb the practice known as “surprise billing” for medical care.

September 30, 2021

US Department of Labor finds Tampa smelter willfully exposed workers to unsafe levels of airborne lead, despite experts’ warning

TAMPA, FL – Despite warnings since March 2020 of unsafe measures of lead exposure, a Tampa battery recycling facility and smelter failed to make changes that resulted in worker exposure to lead inhalation hazards, a federal workplace safety investigation found.

September 30, 2021

US Department of Labor awards $195.7M in grants to 58 states, territories, District of Columbia to strengthen fraud detection, prevention efforts

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor announced the recent awards of $195.7 million in grant funding to states and territories, and the District of Columbia to help them detect and combat fraud in their unemployment insurance programs.

September 30, 2021

US Department of Labor finds none of the nation’s mine operations met criteria for a pattern of violations

WASHINGTON – For the seventh year in a row, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration found none of the nation’s 12,000 mining operations met the criteria for one of the agency’s toughest enforcement tools, its pattern of violations screening.

September 30, 2021

Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report

In the week ending September 25, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 362,000, an increase of 11,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 351,000. The 4-week moving average was 340,000, an increase of 4,250 from the previous week's unrevised average of 335,750.

September 29, 2021

US Department of Labor awards $68M in grants for training, reemployment, supportive services to unemployed, underemployed workers

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the award of nearly $68 million in grant funding to help 29 organizations in 20 states and territories connect job seekers to employment as the economy continues its recovery from the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. The grant awards are part of a total $90 million in funding announced on Aug. 19, 2021.

September 29, 2021

US Department of Labor announces $10.5M in state grant funding to support mine safety, health throughout the nation

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration has awarded $10,537,000 in grant funding to support safety and health training, and other programs. MSHA awarded grants to 46 states, the Navajo Nation and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

September 29, 2021

Highmark Health subsidiary agrees to pay $410K to resolve alleged compensation discrimination found in federal compliance evaluation

PITTSBURGH A Pittsburgh-based company that provides IT support to health plan providers has agreed to pay $410,000 in back pay and interest after a federal compliance evaluation alleged the federal contractor’s pay practices discriminated against 67 employees in the Associate Consultant and Consultant positions.  

September 29, 2021

Court orders Northern New Jersey car washes, oil change shop to pay $325K in back wages, damages to 45 employees for underpaying workers

WESTWOOD, NJ – Owners of two Westwood car wash establishments and an oil change shop routinely shortchanged employees who worked long hours doing physically demanding work. As a result of a federal investigation and recent court order, the firm must pay $325,000 in back wages and liquidated damages for failing to pay the minimum wage and overtime. Some employees who worked as many as 70 hours in a workweek received only straight time for all the hours they worked.

September 29, 2021

US Department of Labor cites Colorado dairy farm operator for violations after vacuum truck driver suffers fatal injuries in unguarded manure pit

LASALLE, CO – A federal workplace safety investigation into the death of a 44-year-old worker, who drowned when the vacuum truck he was driving entered an unguarded manure holding pit, concluded that a LaSalle dairy farm failed to protect its workers from drowning and chemical hazards.