NEW YORK – A federal judge in New York has ruled private arbitration agreements do not bind the Secretary when the U.S. Secretary of Labor is not a party. The decision now allows the U.S. Department of Labor to move forward with its lawsuit alleging that three defendants misclassified their employees as independent contractors to evade the overtime and recordkeeping requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced a final rule that restores the department’s ability to assess civil money penalties against employers who take tips earned by their employees, regardless of whether those violations are repeated or willful.

In the week ending September 18, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 351,000, an increase of 16,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 3,000 from 332,000 to 335,000. The 4-week moving average was 335,750, a decrease of 750 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 750 from 335,750 to 336,500.

ROSEDALE, LA – At a sugarcane and soybean farm outside Baton Rouge, agricultural workers faced more than Louisiana’s heat and humidity. They dealt with a farm owner and operator, Glynn Rivet, who allegedly denied them adequate food and water, and after the workers asked the owner’s son to help them get food and water, the owner yelled obscenities at the workers, threatened them with guns and fired near them.

WASHINGTON – United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai and Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh today marked the successful conclusion of the first a course of remediation under the USMCA’s Rapid Response Labor Mechanism. Workers at a General Motors facility in Silao, Mexico voted on whether to approve their existing collective bargaining agreement in free and democratic conditions after the United States requested a review on May 12, 2021. 

WEST COVINA, CA – El Departamento de Trabajo de EE.UU. ha ordenado a un operador de lavado de autos en Colton que pague a 15 trabajadores más de $62,000 en salarios atrasados y compensación por daños luego que investigadores federales encontraron que el empleador intencionalmente no les pagó las horas extra, como requiere la Ley de Normas Justas de Trabajo.

WEST COVINA, CA – The U.S. Department of Labor has ordered a Colton car wash to pay 15 workers more than $62,000 in back wages and liquidated damages after federal investigators found their employer intentionally failed to pay them overtime, as the Fair Labor Standards Act requires.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced its Veterans’ Employment and Training Service has signed a memorandum of understanding with nine organizations that have agreed to serve as partners to support VETS’ Employment Navigator and Partnership Pilot.

ORLANDO, FL – A U.S. Department of Labor investigation found an Orlando air conditioning and heating service company failed to pay workers the overtime wages they legally earned, in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

COLUMBIA, SC – The operators of three South Carolina marinas found themselves afoul of the Fair Labor Standards Act recently after U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigations uncovered child labor and overtime violations.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor and the Hawaii Department of Labor and Industrial Relations have entered into a voluntary conciliation agreement to ensure those with limited English proficiency and eligible non-U.S. citizens seeking to file claims for unemployment insurance benefits have better access to services.

DENTON, TX – A Fort Worth masonry company continues to put its workers at risk for falls – the leading cause of death and serious injury in the construction industry – by ignoring workplace safety regulations, a recent federal inspection at a Denton work site found.

SAN DIEGO - Un tribunal federal ha dictado una sentencia acordada por las partes por la que se ordena a una empresa de almacenes aduaneros de San Diego el pago de $235,000 en concepto de salarios atrasados y sanciones después de que una investigación del Departamento de Trabajo de EE.UU.

SAN DIEGO – A federal court has approved a consent judgment ordering a San Diego customs warehouse company to pay $235,000 in back wages and penalties after a U.S. Department of Labor investigation found the employer illegally paid warehouse workers as little as $3.38 per hour and paid no overtime when the workers averaged 45 to 51 hours a week.

STREETSBORO, OH – An Orwell roofing contractor continues to put himself and his workers at risk of injury or worse by defying federal requirements to use fall protection and have protective equipment readily available on job sites, a recent workplace inspection found.

HIGHLANDS, NC - Una investigación federal sobre las prácticas de pago de un contratista de remodelación de granito y gabinetes en Highlands, encontró que el empleador clasificó erróneamente a los trabajadores como contratistas independientes y no pagó las horas extra cuando trabajaron más de 40 horas en una semana de trabajo.

HIGHLANDS, NC – A federal investigation of a Highlands granite and cabinet remodeling contractor’s pay practices found the employer misclassified workers as independent contractors and failed to pay overtime when they worked more than 40 hours in a workweek.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor has awarded $2 million in grant funding to organizations to develop partnerships with community-based organizations and other non-profits to conduct outreach to low-income and marginalized women workers to help them understand and exercise their rights and benefits in the workplace.

SAN ANTONIO - Desde el comienzo de la pandemia, los trabajadores de las farmacias de nuestras comunidades han atendido las múltiples necesidades de sus clientes – rellenando recetas, programando vacunas y utilizando servicios sin contacto en los mostradores y ventanillas de atención al público – y, a cambio, esperaban que se les pagaran los salarios legalmente ganados.

SAN ANTONIO – Since the pandemic’s start, pharmacy workers in our communities have served their customers’ many needs – filling prescriptions, scheduling vaccinations and using contact-free services at counters and drive-through windows – and, in return, they expected to be paid their legally earned wages.