CHICAGO – After failing to satisfy repeated requests to cooperate with investigators with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, two business operators in Illinois and Minnesota must now answer to federal courts in Chicago and Minneapolis after the department filed petitions to enforce its administrative subpoenas for records.

WASHINGTON – Deputy Undersecretary of Labor for International Affairs Thea Lee made the following statement today upon the closure of the VU Manufacturas facility in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico:

CHANDLER, MN – A national food manufacturer paid $140,164 in civil money penalties after the U.S. Department of Labor found the company employed at least 11 children – nine of whom operated hazardous machinery – at its meatpacking and food processing facility in Chandler, Minnesota.

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL – For roofing workers without required fall protection, one wrong or unsteady step can lead to serious, debilitating injuries or worse, a danger to which two Florida contractors exposed 12 workers at a Davie worksite in April 2023. 

SEATTLE – A federal court in Seattle has ruled that Starbucks Corp. must comply with a U.S. Department of Labor administrative subpoena that seeks documents needed in an investigation by the department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards into money spent by the company related to worker organizing campaigns. The court has given the company 14 days to provide the documents.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor announced today the designation of additional federally funded construction projects for participation in the Mega Construction Project Program. 

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

NEW YORK – The U.S. Department of Labor has entered into a settlement agreement with EmblemHealth Inc., a New York-based insurer and third-party administrator of employment-based group health plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, resolving claims that Emblem breached its fiduciary duties under federal law by engaging in a practice known as “cross-plan offsetting.”

READING, PA – The U.S. Department of Labor has found a well-known Pennsylvania candy maker failed to evacuate employees after some reported smelling gas before a March 2023 explosion that killed seven workers at the company’s West Reading facility.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor announced today that its Mine Safety and Health Administration is holding its annual Training Resources Applied to Mining conference in Beaver, West Virginia, from Oct. 10 to 12.

CHICAGO – The U.S. Department of Labor has filed suit against a Chicago security company, American Public Defense Inc.

BOISE, ID ‒ The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment in federal court requiring a Boise dog daycare facility and its former owner to pay $50,000 in general and punitive damages for terminating two employees unlawfully for raising workplace safety concerns about being exposed to the risk of the coronavirus amid the pandemic in June 2020.

Employer:                                          Dolgencorp LLC, operating as Dollar General

404 East Pioneer St.

Crandon, Wisconsin 54520

WAYNE, NJ – The U.S. Department of Labor has entered into a settlement agreement with a New Jersey building contractor who allowed their subcontractors’ employees to work in close proximity to high-voltage power lines at a Paterson work site in 2021 and 2022.

CHICAGO – An independent research center affiliated with the University of Chicago will pay $95,000 in back wages and interest to 107 Asian applicants to resolve alleged hiring discrimination found in a U.S. Department of Labor investigation.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the incremental award of $7.5 million in funding to support continued disaster-relief employment and workforce training for eligible residents in Florida as the state continues to recover following Hurricane Ian. 

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced a settlement with United of Omaha Life Insurance Co. that requires the company to revise how it administers its requirement that participants in employer-sponsored life insurance plans provide proof of good health — referred to as evidence of insurability — before obtaining coverage in certain instances. 

SAN FRANCISCO – The U.S.

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – The U.S. Department of Labor has filed suit against the operator and owner of four western Michigan 7-Eleven convenience stores after an investigation found payroll records were inaccurate, paid employees “off the books” and failed to pay them overtime.