WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeking public comment on proposed revisions to Wagner-Peyser Act regulations to include Employment Service staff in public employment offices in state merit systems, and improve service delivery for migrant and seasonal farmworkers.

WAUKEGAN, IL – A Waukegan contractor – with a history of violating federal safety standards and ignoring safety citations – was cited again by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration for exposing workers to deadly fall hazards at two separate job sites in October 2021. Joshua Herion – who does business as ECS Roofing Professionals Inc. – faces proposed penalties of $360,531.

ESTERO, FL – A federal investigation of three North Miami Beach restaurants that found the operator denied 58 workers their full overtime wages, has recovered $18,705 in back wages and liquidated damages for the affected employees.

SEATTLE – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Puget Sound Shipbuilders Association in Seattle have renewed an alliance to continue a collaborative relationship that provides shipyard workers and companies with information about hazards and resources to promote safe, healthful workplaces and workers’ rights.

CLEARWATER, FL – A federal investigation into how a 47-year-old carpenter was fatally injured on Oct. 6, 2021, at the Pinellas Gateway Express project in Clearwater found his employer violated safety standards by allowing workers to remain in a crane load’s danger zone.

LANCASTER, PA – A federal court entered a consent judgment against a Pennsylvania home healthcare agency and its owner after investigators found they denied 193 direct care workers overtime pay.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor is seeking nominations for membership on the Advisory Board on Toxic Substances and Worker Health for Part E of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act.

SIOUX FALLS, SD – Each year, hundreds of workers are injured – some fatally – on construction sites. So, as the spring construction season gets into full swing, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration and more than 500 voluntary employee members of the Associated General Contractors of South Dakota are teaming up to protect workers from common construction industry hazards.

EAST ORANGE, NJ – The U.S. Department of Labor and an East Orange medical transport services contractor has reached a settlement agreement after a federal investigation found violations of the McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the appointment of seven members and leadership for the 2022 Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans, also known as the ERISA Advisory Council.

The 15-member council provides advice on policies and regulations affecting employee benefit plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974.

BAYVILLE, NJ - Following a U.S. Department of Labor investigation, an administrative law judge ordered a commercial landscaping company based in Bayville to pay 47 temporary landscaping workers $181,670.19 in back wages. The employer will also pay $38,329.81 in civil money penalties.

WASHINGTON – Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh today toured a treatment facility operated by the Spanish Fort Water System, an Alabama water utility company, to highlight efforts by the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration to protect workers from heat-related hazards in the workplace.

EL PASO, TX – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited a Texas metal fabricator for repeatedly exposing employees to fall, machine and other safety hazards. OSHA’s most recent inspection of Kyoei Steel LTD – operating as Vinton Steel LLC – found 19 violations. The agency proposed penalties of $364,078.

AUGUSTA, ME – A Maine roofing and siding contractor, solely owned, operated and controlled by Andrew Raymond Pollock, willfully exposed its employees to fall hazards at a Hampden residential construction site on multiple occasions during the same inspection by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

TRAFFORD, PA – Four federal investigations have led to the recovery of $383,183 in back wages and liquidated damages for 46 workers of a Trafford homecare service provider who denied them their full wages by not paying them overtime when the law required.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today published its Equity Action Plan in response to the Biden-Harris administration’s Executive Order 13985 on Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities, issued in 2021.

In the week ending April 9, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 185,000, an increase of 18,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 166,000 to 167,000. The 4-week moving average was 172,250, an increase of 2,000 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 250 from 170,000 to 170,250.

HONOLULU – A federal investigation recovered $153,070 in back wages and liquidated damages for 17 workers of a Honolulu bakery and café whose operator denied them their overtime wages and endangered the safety of minor-aged workers.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh and the Austrian Minister for Digital and Economic Affairs Dr. Margarete Schramböck signed a memorandum of understanding today to expand Registered Apprenticeships among Austrian companies and Austrian-invested companies in the U.S. to promote job creation in both countries.

UNION CITY, CA – A federal investigation has recovered $176,193 in back wages for nine health care workers after the owner of four Bay Area residential care homes denied them overtime pay.