March 7, 2022

US Department of Labor finds employer’s pay practices denied 119 Ohio healthcare workers $603K in overtime back wages

COLUMBUS, OH– Home healthcare workers assist their clients with daily living tasks and even stay overnight at their homes to provide around-the-clock care. Despite their essential labor, these workers are sometimes denied all their rightful wages by their employer’s illegal pay practices, as federal investigators found in a recent labor investigation in Columbus.

March 7, 2022

Getting their full cut: US Department of Labor recovers $331K in back wages for 413 Sioux City slaughterhouse workers

SIOUX CITY, IA – Slaughterhouse workers spend long hours on their feet to process livestock and put beef, pork and other meats on the nation’s dinner tables – essential work that keeps Americans fed. For their labor, employers are legally required to ensure these workers are paid all their rightful wages.

March 7, 2022

US Department of Labor serves up $188K in back wages, damages for 104 workers at three Chicago pizzerias as employer tries to defy investigators

CHICAGO – While Sarpino’s Pizzeria locations in Chicago promise quick delivery when customers call, the business’ operator was much less responsive when U.S. Department of Labor investigators chose to review the employer’s pay practices.

In fact, investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division needed a subpoena to obtain employees’ pay records and it soon became clear why the owner refused to cooperate.

March 7, 2022

US Department of Labor recovers $39K in back wages, damages for 19 workers under federal contract at FAA facility in Pensacola

PENSACOLA, FL – A commercial cleaning contractor shortchanged 19 workers at a Federal Aviation Administration worksite in Pensacola by failing to combine hours worked at different job sites and not paying prevailing wages and benefits required on federally funded contracts, the U.S. Department of Labor has found.

March 4, 2022

US Department of Labor initiative seeks to protect Midwest workers from dangers of hazardous noise levels, including permanent hearing loss

KANSAS CITY, MO ‒ More than one in 10 people endure workplace noise levels loud enough to damage their hearing while seven in 10 experience moderately loud noise levels, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports. Yet, in 2020, the bureau found that about half the nation’s workers reported

March 4, 2022

Florida employer to pay $165K in back wages, $75K in penalties for shorting H-2A workers’ wages, subjecting them to unsanitary living conditions

KANSAS CITY, MO – After long days spent toiling in fields under a hot Missouri sun, immigrant workers returned to what was once a county jail where their employer housed them in unsanitary living conditions and added to their misery by failing to pay them the wages they earned under their contract.

March 4, 2022

Statement by US Secretary of Labor Walsh on February Jobs Report

WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh issued the following statement on the February 2022 Employment Situation Report:

“Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the American economy added 678,000 jobs in the month of February, and the unemployment rate was 3.8 percent, down from 4.0 percent in January. This powerful job growth continues the Biden-Harris administration’s historic, worker-centered recovery.

March 4, 2022

Federal investigation recovers $122K in back wages, damages for 22 workers denied overtime by Florida equipment rental company

ORLANDO, FL – Employers cannot avoid paying overtime by simply putting employees on a salary, a costly lesson learned by a Florida equipment rental company after a U.S. Department of Labor investigation.

March 4, 2022

US Department of Labor announces $3.2M in Susan Harwood grants for workplace safety, health training on infectious diseases, including COVID-19

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration today announced the availability of $3.2 million in funds from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 for Susan Harwood Workplace Safety and Health Training on Infectious Diseases, Including COVID-19 grants.

March 3, 2022

Court orders owner of defunct Detroit company to pay nearly $274K in back wages, interest to 326 drivers after US Department of Labor investigation

DETROIT – Timothy Schultz, sole owner of a now defunct Detroit-area transport company, will pay $273,820 – representing $252,416 in overtime back wages and $21,404 in interest  –  to 326 former drivers to resolve a U.S.

March 3, 2022

US Department of Labor finds pipelayer exposed to potential trench collapse on residential construction site in Batavia, Ohio

BATAVIA, OH ‒ An employer installing sanitation sewer pipes in a 15-foot-deep trench in Batavia exposed its employees to the hazard of collapsing walls by not installing trench safety boxes.

March 3, 2022

Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report

In the week ending February 26, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 215,000, a decrease of 18,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 232,000 to 233,000. The 4-week moving average was 230,500, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 250 from 236,250 to 236,500.

March 2, 2022

US Department of Labor, Brasfield & Gorrie Construction to promote workplace safety, health at Alabama construction site

MCCALLA, ALThe U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has signed a strategic partnership with Brasfield & Gorrie Construction to promote worker safety and health during the construction of the University of Alabama’s Medical West project in McCalla. The University of Alabama SafeState is also supporting the partnership.

March 2, 2022

US Labor Department orders Calabasas private aviation provider to pay $958K to former worker who suffered retaliation for reporting safety concerns

LOS ANGELES – The U.S. Department of Labor has ordered a California business aviation provider to pay $958,000 in back wages and associated costs, and correct misinformation about a former employee who the employer retaliated against after they reported flight safety issues.

March 2, 2022

US Department of Labor announces $45M grant funding availability to help close equity gaps, expand access to training needed for good-paying jobs

WASHINGTON – The pandemic worsened disparities in economic outcomes across racial, ethnic and gender lines. Today, the U.S. Department of Labor is announcing a $45 million funding availability to help people in marginalized and underrepresented populations overcome barriers to access career and technical education programs that can help connect them with good-paying jobs.

March 1, 2022

Secretary Walsh, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai issue statements on Tridonex workers’ union selection vote in Matamoros, Mexico

WASHINGTON Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai released statements today following yesterday’s vote at the Tridonex auto parts facility in Matamoros, Mexico, when workers voted to choose which union will have the right to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement on their behalf. 

March 1, 2022

US Department of Labor announces initial award of more than $20M in grants to promote equitable access to unemployment insurance systems

WASHINGTON – Throughout the pandemic, disparities in access to benefits affected women, communities of color and other marginalized workers at a higher rate and often delayed delivery of much needed financial support and services. These disparities in access to unemployment insurance exposed serious real-world shortcomings in the outdated systems used to deliver state and territories unemployment insurance benefits.

March 1, 2022

Readout: Nation’s largest trucking industry association accepts ‘90-Day Trucking Apprenticeship Challenge’

WASHINGTON – Today, Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg announced a partnership with the American Trucking Associations – the largest national trade association for the trucking industry – to join the Biden-Harris administration’s 90-Day Trucking Apprenticeship Challenge and launch Registered Apprenticeships as a route toward getting more well-trained dr