SAN DIEGO, CA – Since 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor has seen a troubling increase in wage theft by customs brokers and freight-forwarding and logistics companies operating near the Mexican border, a trend reflected in three recent investigations in San Diego that recovered nearly $840,000 for 32 employees, some of whom one employer paid less than $3 per hour.

NEWBURY, OH – The U.S. Department of Labor has initiated debt collection procedures against a Newbury landscaping company that allegedly threatened workers for cooperating with a federal investigation that found the company and its owner owes $169,015 in back wages and damages to 19 affected workers. 

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the selection of eight Employment Navigator and Partnership Program partners with the department’s Veterans’ Employment and Training Service. The ENPP provides service members transitioning from active duty and their spouses with personalized employment assistance. 

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor announced today that its Mine Safety and Health Administration completed impact inspections in May 2024 at 15 mines in 12 states, leading the agency to cite 300 violations and one safeguard.

The agency began conducting impact inspections after an April 2010 explosion in West Virginia at the Upper Big Branch Mine killed 29 miners. 

ATLANTA – A five-man crew’s first day working to remove tar and stone from metal roof panels at a Macon warehouse ended abruptly in November 2023 when a 54-year-old laborer tragically suffered fatal injuries after stepping on a skylight and falling about 19 feet.

A U.S. Department of Labor investigation found Georgia construction contractor could have prevented by providing their employees with required fall protection.

CITY OF INDUSTRY, CA – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment in a federal court ordering a City of Industry meat processor and a Downey staffing agency to surrender $327,484 in illegal profits made from sales of products associated with oppressive, exploitative child labor. The judgment also requires the employers to pay the department $62,516 in penalties. 

SYRACUSE, NY – A construction contractor could have prevented an employee’s fatal fall at a Smyrna, New York job site in December 2023 by providing adequate fall protection and training employees in its effective use, a U.S. Department of Labor investigation found.

WASHINGTON – The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement’s Interagency Labor Committee for Monitoring and Enforcement today requested the government of Mexico review an allegation that workers’ rights are being denied by Industrias Tecnos, a munitions manufacturing facility in Cuernavaca. The U.S. Department of Labor and U.S. Trade Representative co-chair the Interagency Labor Committee

WASHINGTON – The Department of Labor announced its Employee Benefits Security Administration today issued a report to Congress on an interpretive bulletin related to fiduciary standards when selecting an annuity provider for a defined benefit pension plan.

Employer:       Asian Restaurant Group Inc., operating two restaurants as Max’s of Manila in Hawaii

                              1350 Pine St. #6

                               Boulder, CO 80304

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced that its Mine Safety and Health Administration is making $10.5 million in grant funding available to help provide mine safety training for the nation’s miners.

WASHINGTON –The U.S. Department of Labor led the United States’ delegation to the 2024 International Labor Conference in Geneva from June 3-14, 2024, joining over 4,900 delegates for the world’s largest annual conference on international labor rights. The ILC brings together governments, employers and workers from 187 member states.  

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Deputy Undersecretary for International Affairs Thea Lee released the following statement condemning the June 15 murder of Anastacio Tzib Caal, the recently elected secretary general of the Texpia II workers’ union. Texpia II is a garment production facility in Villa Nueva, Guatemala. 

WASHINGTON – To highlight the investments and priorities of the most pro-worker, pro-union administration in history, Acting Secretary Su is traveling the country this summer to engage with workers and employers on the department’s commitment to improving job quality and fighting for workers. By investing federal resources that create pathways to good jobs for all communities, the Biden-Harris administration is making good on its promise to grow the economy from the middle out and the bottom up. 

BOAZ, AL – A Boaz mobile home manufacturer could have prevented a 62-year-old roofing laborer’s fatal fall had the employer followed required fall protection standards, a U.S. Department of Labor investigation found.

The department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration determined that the Kabco Builders Inc. employee was alone loading shingles as they straddled a two-foot-wide space between a platform and a mobile home’s roof when they slipped and fell approximately 10 feet. 

WASHINGTON – The Department of Labor welcomed leaders from the International Labor Organization and other international, federal, state and local government officials and stakeholders to the department’s Washington headquarters on June 18 for the first Women’s Bureau summit to discuss collective efforts to prevent and address gender-based violence and harassment in the world of work. 

PLANO, TX – The U.S. Department of Labor has ordered American Home Protect LLC in Plano and its parent company, Porch Group Inc. in Seattle, to reinstate and pay back wages and compensatory damages to an employee who was fired in June 2023 after informing upper management about deceptive business practices.

ATLANTA – A U.S. Department of Labor workplace safety investigation has found a Woodbury plastic and resin manufacturer could have prevented a 37-year-old employee from suffering fatal injuries by following required safety rules designed to keep machines from starting up during maintenance. 

In the week ending June 15, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 238,000, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 242,000 to 243,000. The 4-week moving average was 232,750, an increase of 5,500 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 250 from 227,000 to 227,250.

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

What:             Southeast Region Whistleblower protections webinar