In the week ending October 26, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 216,000, a decrease of 12,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 227,000 to 228,000. The 4-week moving average was 236,500, a decrease of 2,250 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 250 from 238,500 to 238,750.

Employer:                              Finichel LLC, operating as Finichel Cleaning Services 

Investigation site:                  801 Mohawk Drive

West Columbia, SC 29169

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL – A U.S. Department of Labor investigation found two contractors could have prevented a crane collapse at a Fort Lauderdale residential construction site in April 2024, which caused a 27-year-old rigger to suffer fatal injuries after falling approximately 30 stories.

BUFFALO, NY – The U.S. Department of Labor announced that its Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs will mark the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Act and Veterans Day 2024 by holding a Veteran Resource and Opportunity Fair on Nov. 6, 2024. 

HAMILTON, MO ‒ A Missouri grain cooperative could have prevented an employee’s fatal engulfment in a storage bin in May 2024 had it followed federal workplace safety requirements, the U.S. Department of Labor determined.

LOUISVILLE, KY – The U.S. Department of Labor encourages employers and others in Kentucky’s highway construction industry to complete a statewide prevailing wage rates survey to help its Wage and Hour Division establish accurate pay and fringe benefits for workers on federally funded and assisted construction projects.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor and Kenya’s Ministry of Labor and Social Protection today signed a memorandum of understanding to advance labor cooperation between the two countries.

Deputy Undersecretary for International Affairs Thea Lee and Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for Labor and Social Protection Alfred N. Mutua met for a signing ceremony at the ministry’s Nairobi headquarters.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the award of $5 million in funding to support continued disaster-relief employment and workforce training for Florida residents as the state continues to recover after Hurricane Idalia.

Date of action:           Oct. 3, 2024 

Participants:              U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division 

                        New York State Department of Labor, Division of Labor Standards

SYRACUSE, NY – An administrative law judge has ordered a Rochester commercial roofing company to pay $16,782 in penalties for two serious fall protection and ladder safety violations, after an investigation and litigation by the U.S. Department of Labor.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. and Swiss governments have renewed a memorandum of understanding to expand and strengthen quality apprenticeships and pathways to good jobs, including Registered Apprenticeships, among Swiss companies and Swiss-invested companies in the U.S.

In the week ending October 19, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 227,000, a decrease of 15,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 241,000 to 242,000. The 4-week moving average was 238,500, an increase of 2,000 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 250 from 236,250 to 236,500.

WASHINGTON – The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement’s Interagency Labor Committee for Monitoring and Enforcement today requested that the Mexican government review an alleged denial of workers’ rights at Odisa Equipment Services, a cement plant machinery manufacturing facility in Hidalgo, Mexico.

The U.S. Department of Labor and U.S. Trade Representative co-chair the Interagency Labor Committee.

WASHINGTON – At a White House ceremony today, the U.S. Department of Labor welcomed the latest cohort of Apprenticeship Ambassadors and recognized current ambassadors for meeting or exceeding their commitments to expand and diversify Registered Apprenticeships. 

WASHINGTON – The Department of Labor today announced the Advisory Board on Toxic Substances and Worker Health for Part E of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act will hold an online meeting Oct. 30, 2024. Meetings are open to the public.

The act provides compensation and medical benefits to nuclear weapons workers diagnosed with medical conditions caused by their exposure to toxic substances at covered nuclear facilities.

WASHINGTON –The Biden-Harris administration today announced that the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division recovered more than $1 billion in back wages and damages for our nation’s workers since the start of the Biden-Harris administration. The recoveries derive from investigations concluded by the division from Jan. 20, 2021, through Sept. 30, 2024.

OKLAHOMA CITY – El Departamento de Trabajo de EE. UU. obtuvo un fallo por consentimiento y un interdicto para recuperar $120,000 en sueldos atrasados y daños y perjuicios para 177 trabajadores de restaurantes de Oklahoma cuyo empleador dedujo el tiempo de descanso para almorzar que no se utilizó y no les pagó por todas las horas trabajadas.

OKLAHOMA CITY – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment and injunction to recover $120,000 in back wages and liquidated damages for 177 Oklahoma restaurant workers whose employer deducted time for lunch breaks not taken and failed to pay employees for all hours worked.

MILWAUKEE – A federal court has ordered the operators of four Milwaukee-area chicken franchise restaurants to pay $442,140 to 29 employees in a consent judgment and order obtained following an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor. 

ORLANDO, FL – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent order requiring a Jacksonville Beach water park to pay $151,606 in penalties after investigators found the company assigned young teenagers to work late hours during the school year and as attendants on elevated water slides without certification.