WASHINGTON – The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement’s Interagency Labor Committee for Monitoring and Enforcement today requested the government of Mexico conduct a review based on its finding that a denial of workers’ rights has occurred at the Fujikura auto parts plant in Piedras Negras, Coahuila.

CAMBRIA, WI – The U.S. Department of Labor has reached a settlement agreement with Didion Milling Inc. that requires the Cambria corn milling company to pay more than $1.8 million in penalties after a May 31, 2017, explosion that killed five workers and injured more than a dozen others. The company has also agreed to make extensive safety and health improvements at the facility. 

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced a notice of proposed rulemaking to enhance the National Apprenticeship System by modernizing regulations for Registered Apprenticeships.

The proposed rule would include the following enhancements: 

Employers:    Detroit Body Guards Protection Unit LLC

                        Carla Bland, human resources director

Actions:          Fair Labor Standards Act complaint filing

Courts:           U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan

In the week ending December 9, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 202,000, a decrease of 19,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 220,000 to 221,000. The 4-week moving average was 213,250, a decrease of 7,750 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 250 from 220,750 to 221,000.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the final rule to implement the requirements of Executive Order 14055, “Nondisplacement of Qualified Workers Under Service Contracts,” which seeks to prevent the displacement of skilled and experienced workers in the federal services workforce.

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – A federal court in Michigan has ordered the owner of a Haslett assisted living facility, 

who allegedly threatened to fire three employees after she suspected they cooperated with a U.S. Department of Labor investigation, to attend training on federal anti-retaliation regulations and pay back wages and damages.

WESTFIELD, IL ‒ Two weeks before the U.S. Department of Labor issued citations to a Westfield grain company for a worker being entrapped in a grain bin for five hours in February 2023, the company notified the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration that another employee suffered severe leg injuries on July 12, 2023. The employee required a partial leg amputation. 

WASHINGTON – When a group of bakery distribution drivers filed a lawsuit alleging that Bimbo Foods Bakeries Distribution LLC owed them overtime compensation and misclassified them as independent contractors rather than employees covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act, the company countersued the workers.

PALATINE, IL – Twice within a month in summer 2023, federal workplace safety inspectors found a Palatine contractor did not provide roofing employees with required fall protection, exposing them to the risk of falls from elevation, the construction industry’s leading cause of workplace deaths.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. and Mexico have resolved a Rapid Response Mechanism petition under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement that alleged INISA2000 — an Aguascalientes, Mexico, denim garment facility — denied freedom of association and collective bargaining rights.

CINCINNATI ‒ A federal workplace safety investigation at one of the world’s leading suppliers of processed foods found a temporary worker’s finger amputation occurred when they reached into a meat grinder’s discharge port that lacked required safety guards. 

WASHINGTON – Como la División de Horas y Salarios del Departamento de Trabajo de EE. UU.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su issued the following statement on the November 2023 Employment Situation report: 

“Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the American economy added 199,000 jobs in November, and the unemployment rate ticked down to 3.7 percent, continuing 22 straight months of an unemployment rate under 4 percent. Not since 1970 has unemployment been this low for this length of time, demonstrating once again that Bidenomics is working.

WASHINGTON – The U.S.

SAN FRANCISCO ‒ The U.S. Department of Labor announced that its Occupational Safety and Health Administration has launched a Regional Emphasis Program to promote workplace safety and protect people employed in the landscaping and horticultural industries in four western states and three Pacific territories.

Employers:    Network Connect Healthcare Staffing

                        7930 Castleway Drive

                        Indianapolis, IN 46250

CENTRAL ISLIP, NY – The owner of a Lynbrook grocery store believed they could ignore requests from the U.S. Department of Labor and a federal court in New York to cooperate with an investigation of their company’s pay practices. 

When the U.S. Marshals Service arrested and took Joseph Rossi into custody on Dec. 5, 2023, for repeatedly failing to provide information to the department’s Wage and Hour Division as part of a compliance investigation, the owner of Cross Island Fruits found out how wrong this belief was.

Employer name:                               Chief’s Place Pizza Restaurant Inc. doing business as Chief’s Place

Investigation site:                             348 Village St., Concord, NH 03303