NEW ORLEANS –Renowned for its food and restaurant options, New Orleans’ economy depends on the city’s service workers, including 359 people employed by five restaurants that, U.S. Department of Labor investigators found, made illegal wage deductions and paid them less than minimum wage. 

Empleador:    Humberto Castaneda Produce

                        2859 Fulton Road

Fulton, CA 95439 

Employer:      Humberto Castaneda Produce

                        2859 Fulton Road

Fulton, CA 95439 

DALLAS – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $227,834 in back wages from the owner and operator of a Happy Lamb Hot Pot franchise in Grand Prairie that denied 47 restaurant workers required minimum and overtime wages and illegally allowed a manager to keep a portion of servers’ tips.

WASHINGTON – Acting Secretary Julie Su and the U.S. Department of Labor paid tribute to nine labor unions representing nearly three million members, retirees and their families that have fought for workers’ rights for more than 100 years and inducted them on Sept. 17, 2024, into the department’s Century of Service Honor Roll of American Labor Organizations. 

PHILADELPHIA – Pennsylvania State University will pay $703,742 in back wages and interest and enter into a conciliation agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor to resolve alleged gender pay discrimination against female employees.

JEFFERSON CITY, MO – The U.S. Department of Labor has filed suit in federal court against a Jefferson City buffet restaurant and its owner, after investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division found servers worked for tips only and cooks were paid a set cash salary regardless of how many hours they worked, leading to violations of minimum wage or overtime regulations. 

LAS VEGAS – El Departamento de Trabajo de EE.UU. ha obtenido una sentencia por consentimiento con la que logra recuperar $550,000 en salarios atrasados ​​y compensación por daños para 614 empleados de una empresa de construcción de Las Vegas cuyas prácticas salariales negaron a trabajadores sus salarios completos.

WASHINGTON – The United States and Mexico have announced the successful resolution to a Rapid Response Mechanism petition alleging workers’ rights were denied at Impro Industries, a parts manufacturer in San Luis Potosí, Mexico. 

LAS VEGAS – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment recovering $550,000 in back wages and liquidated damages to 614 employees from a Las Vegas construction company whose pay practices deprived the workers of their full wages.

ASHTABULA, OH ‒ Federal safety inspectors found a crew working aboard the Cuyahoga, a commercial iron ore vessel moored at the Port of Ashtabula, narrowly avoided disaster after a large fire erupted as they welded off paint in a cargo hold, an incident their employer could have avoided by following U.S. Department of Labor safety regulations. 

Date of action:           August 19, 2024

Type of action:          Temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction

STEPHENSON, VA – A federal whistleblower investigation has found a subsidiary of one of the world’s largest building materials manufacturers fired a truck driver in September 2023 illegally after the employee raised concerns that the loads and routes their employer routinely assigned left them fatigued and ill, endangering themselves and others on the road.

BOSTON – A U.S. Department of Labor investigation has recovered $77,206 in back wages for five workers employed on a federally funded construction project after finding one subcontractor failed to pay prevailing wages and fringe benefits and another submitted falsified payroll records.

WASHINGTON – The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement’s Interagency Labor Committee for Monitoring and Enforcement today requested the Mexico government review alleged denial of workers’ rights at the Bader leather car interior manufacturing facility in León, Guanajuato. The Department of Labor and the Office of the Trade Representative co-chair the committee.

Employer:      Teracom Inc., Saline, Michigan

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the launch of a webpage that marks the 50th anniversary of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and reflects on the landmark law’s impact on the retirement security of America’s workers. 

PORTLAND, OR – The U.S. Department of Labor has filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon against Dr. Robert B. Pamplin Jr. and R.B. Pamplin Corporation for jeopardizing millions of dollars in retirement funds for thousands of employees because of the unlawful acquisition of company-owned real estate by the R.B. Pamplin Corporation and Subsidiaries Pension Plan.

KANSAS CITY, KS – A federal jury in Kansas has awarded $957,324 in back wages for 168 workers at three Wichita-area restaurants jointly operated by three owners who willfully violated federal laws by using tips earned by servers to pay hosts and bussers and denying workers minimum and overtime wages.

WATERTOWN, WI – Federal workplace safety inspectors found a Wisconsin animal food producer exposed employees to the risks of explosions, fires and long-term respiratory illnesses from excessive amounts of airborne dust, among two dozen safety and health violations they identified.