MARTINSBURG, WV – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Continental Brick Co. after an investigation found the employer exposed workers to respirable crystalline silica at the company’s brick manufacturing facility in Martinsburg.

PORTLAND, OR – The U.S. Department of Labor enforces laws that protect workers’ rights. It also holds unscrupulous employers who shortchange their workers accountable, as it has done on behalf of 118 workers at three Oregon restaurants after an investigation revealed wage theft and other violations.

Employer name:                   Area Wide Protection Inc., doing business as Roadtek Traffic Solutions LLC                                                                                                               5874 N. Lee Highway, Suite 100                                                                                                                                                                                                         Fairfield, VA 24435

CHICAGO – The U.S. Department of Labor has asked a federal court in Illinois to hold fiduciaries of the United Employee Benefit Fund, along with its counsel, liable for more than $2.8 million in losses after an investigation found they allowed the misappropriation of the fund’s assets. A Chicago-based multiple employer welfare arrangement, UEBF provides life insurance benefits to about 63 nationwide employer-sponsored benefit plans.

CHICAGO ‒ Careworkers put in long hours tending to the vital needs of people in their homes and at health care facilities, yet they are among the nation’s lowest paid workers. Their jobs are made even more difficult when employers fail to pay them all their rightfully earned wages.

Employer name:                                Heavenly Victory LLC, doing business as Naranjero Super 1

Investigation site:                              Albuquerque, New Mexico

WASHINGTON – Over the past year, dozens of miners have been injured or killed in mining incidents, many of which could have been prevented with proper training and attention to tasks. This unacceptable trend has prompted the U.S. Department of Labor to initiate a new safety campaign to reach miners and educate mine operators on their responsibility to ensure a safe workplace and prevent deadly accidents.

NEW YORK – A federal investigation into a fatal workplace injury on Aug. 19, 2021, at a Town of Oyster Bay municipal building has found a Setauket roofing contractor failed to provide necessary safeguards to protect employees against falls.

HARTVILLE, OH – A Hartsville contractor has been cited for the sixth time since 2018 for exposing workers to deadly fall hazards on two separate Ohio job sites.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor announced the availability of up to $12 million in funding to empower federal and state labor inspectors in Mexico to improve enforcement of the country’s landmark 2019 labor law reform in five states, with a focus on Northern States.

AMERICAN CANYON, CA – A federal investigation has recovered $315,536 in back wages for 158 workers of American Canyon home care agency where the owner and CEO unlawfully required hourly employees who earned significant overtime to sign an agreement to be paid straight time for up to 160 hours per pay period.

BELLEVUE, NE – A company known for baking some of the nation’s leading brands will pay $131,216 in back pay and interest to 134 qualified female applicants as part of an agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs to resolve alleged hiring discrimination at a Bellevue, Nebraska baking facility.

SAN FRANCISCO – The U.S. Department of Labor and other stakeholders are offering workers, employers, educators, safety and health professionals and others a unique, virtual opportunity to increase their knowledge of workplace safety and health issues during Pacific Coast Safety Fest, March 14-17, 2022.

LAUREL RUN, PA – An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor recovered $221,307 in back wages and damages for 32 nursing staff employees of a Luzerne County treatment center found to be intentionally shortchanging workers of their overtime pay repeatedly.

Date of action:                       February 18, 2022

Type of action:                      Appellee brief

Names of respondents:         Alight Solutions LLC

JACKSONVILLE, FL – The miscalculation of overtime wages and child labor violations have taken a slice of the profits from the operator of three Jacksonville pizzerias, following an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor.

ATLANTA – A series of federal workplace safety and health inspections at four Dollar General stores in Alabama and Georgia in the summer of 2021 found the nationwide discount retailer’s long history of exposing employees to dangerous working conditions continues.

SAN DIEGO – Un franquiciado de McDonald’s pagará $25,920 en multas luego de que una investigación del Departamento de Trabajo de EE.UU. descubriera que el empleador asignó a empleados menores de edad trabajos peligrosos en tres ubicaciones de Santa Ana, en violación de las leyes de trabajo infantil.

In the week ending February 19, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 232,000, a decrease of 17,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 248,000 to 249,000. The 4-week moving average was 236,250, a decrease of 7,250 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 250 from 243,250 to 243,500.