Bouncing back and moving forward

Looking for answers in the aftermath of a hurricane? Watch and share our videos to help spread the word on common questions to arise after a storm.

• Safety tips for flood cleanup
• Safely using a portable generator
• Payment for hurricane recovery work
• What happens if a hurricane closes a business or destroys records
• How hurricanes impact employee pay
• Post-disaster unemployment insurance and related assistance

We’ve awarded up to $10 million in initial emergency funding to support disaster-relief jobs and training services for people in 25 counties, including Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Clay, Cleveland, Gaston, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Lincoln, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Transylvania, Watauga, Wilkes and Yancey.

After the National Labor Relations Board announced that union election petitions more than doubled from fiscal year 2024 to FY 2021, Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su called the news “a welcome sign of power tilting toward working people in this country and of workers finding their power." Su added, "Workers are demanding their fair share more, and they are forming unions because they know they are stronger when they act collectively. And these demands did not come out of nowhere. For decades, workers have been left out, left behind and let down by the failed economic policies of the past.”

El Mazatlan Inc., operator of a Glasgow, Kentucky-based chain of restaurants, has agreed to pay $250,000 in penalties and comply with federal regulations in the future after our Wage and Hour Division learned the enterprise employed a 13-year-old child illegally and assigned 37 other teens to work more hours than the law permits.

A judge has ruled that CSX Transportation Inc. must reinstate and pay $453,510 to two railroad workers fired for reporting safety concerns in Georgia. The rail operator has been cited for similar retaliations against whistleblowers in New Orleans in 2021, Georgia in 2020 and New York in 2016 and 2010.

We’re working to ensure new workplace technologies such as artificial intelligence enhance job quality and benefit workers. The department’s AI and Worker Well-being: Principles for Developers and Employers provide developers and employers as part of its implementation of President Biden's Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence, written with input from workers, unions, researchers, academics, employers, developers and others.

• Read our AI principles
• Read the Executive Order on AI
• Read a news release on the new principles

We’re pursuing back wages and damages for coffee shop workers after our investigators alleged employers did not pay overtime to employees who worked at several locations.

A safety inspection found Universal Recycling Technologies still exposing workers to unsafe levels of lead and cadmium, the same dangers cited in April 2023. OSHA has proposed $202,820 in penalties.

Register to join an online event Oct. 24 highlighting how the Investing in America agenda is creating opportunities for disabled workers.

A new report highlights our work combating “fine print” provisions in employment contracts, helping ensure workers receive the pay and protections guaranteed by law.

A Tennessee sawmill must pay $73,847 in penalties and surrender $10,000 in profits for employing children as young as 14 illegally.

Assistant Secretary for Disability Employment Policy Taryn M. Williams traveled to Italy to the first-ever G7 Ministerial Meeting on Inclusion and Disability.

In recent weeks, Acting Secretary Su has met with many Hispanic and Latino/a workers around the country. In Wisconsin, she joined a roundtable conversation with Voces de la Frontera to discuss issues low-wage and immigrant workers face. She also visited the Latin American Association for a discussion on expanding pathways to good jobs in clean energy for Latino/a workers in the Atlanta area. Acting Secretary Su emphasized the importance of all workers knowing their workplace rights.

As response workers begin to assess damage after Hurricane #Milton, many dangers exist. Employers MUST provide workers with appropriate PPE to keep them safe from contaminated waters, wildlife, and other deadly hazards. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/eWf7EWA8
-OSHA

• UPI: Labor Department orders CSX to pay 2 whistleblowers more than $450,000
• AP News: Troubled Boeing signals it may raise up to $25 billion to shore up finances
• Lexington Herald Leader: Kentucky restaurant chain agrees to pay $250,000 over allegations of labor violations
• VOA News: Acting US labor secretary intervenes in Boeing strike