November 12, 2024

Department of Labor investigation finds window cleaning company employed children to complete dangerous tasks; required to pay $29K in penalties

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – A Grand Rapids window cleaning company must pay $29,210 in civil money penalties for employing three children to complete dangerous tasks while cleaning residential windows and gutters and installing Christmas lights, including one that suffered serious injuries requiring surgery when they fell from a roof.

November 12, 2024

Iron River pizza restaurant agrees to pay $99K in penalties for employing children to operate hot oven, meat grinder; work beyond allowed hours

IRON RIVER, WI – Diners at an Iron River pizza restaurant will soon see teenage workers wearing different colored shirts or name tags; not as part of a marketing promotion but to help managers quickly remember the ages of young employees to avoid assigning them to dangerous duties or employing them to work longer or later than federal child labor laws permit.

November 12, 2024

Department of Labor recovers $863K in wages, damages from 4 California residential care providers that shortchanged minimum, overtime wages

SACRAMENTO, CA – More than 700,000 people work to provide essential home health or personal care to older adults, people with disabilities or special needs in California and, despite their dedication to others’ needs, federal investigators find too many industry employers deceptively denying these hard-working people their full and ri

November 12, 2024

Court enters consent order requiring New Hampshire landscaper to pay employees $310K in wages, liquidated damages

MANCHESTER, NH – The U.S. Department of Labor, following an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division and the filing of a consent order in federal court by the department’s Office of the Solicitor, has recovered a total of $310,193 in back wages and liquidated damages from a Bedford landscaper and contractor who underpaid 60 employees. 

November 12, 2024

US Department of Labor, Travis County DA’s office renew  partnership to expand, improve protection of workers’ wages

Participant:   Travis County District Attorney’s Office

Address:         416 West 11th St.

Austin, TX 78701

Description: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division renewed a memorandum of understanding with the Travis County District Attorney’s Office to expand and improve the protection of the county’s workforce, enforcement of wage laws and level the playing field for responsible employers. 

November 8, 2024

Statement by Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety, Health on occupational injuries, illnesses in 2023

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health Douglas Parker issued the following statement on the Bureau of Labor Statistics' 2023 Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses:

November 8, 2024

US Department of Labor, Office of the Trade Representative seek review of alleged denial of labor rights at glass facility in Matamoros, Mexico

WASHINGTON – The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement’s Interagency Labor Committee for Monitoring and Enforcement today requested that the government of Mexico review an alleged denial of workers’ at Vidrio Decorativo Occidental, a manufacturer of decorative glass in Matamoros, Mexico.

The U.S. Department of Labor and U.S. Trade Representative co-chair the Interagency Labor Committee.

November 8, 2024

US Department of Labor complaint alleges Indianapolis home care companies’ operator again violated federal wage laws, withheld $86K in wages

INDIANAPOLIS – In 2018, federal investigators cited then owner Hahn March for not paying overtime wages to employees at Aging and Disabled Home Healthcare in Indiana. March again finds herself under scrutiny for allegedly using improper pay practices at two Indianapolis home healthcare companies she owns, Signal Health Group Inc. and SHG Employee Leasing Company. 

November 7, 2024

US Department of Labor announces guidance, relief for employee benefit plans, participants, beneficiaries affected by hurricanes Helene, Milton

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor has issued guidance and provided relief for participants and beneficiaries and employee benefit plans affected by Hurricane Helene and by Hurricane Milton.

November 7, 2024

Federal court orders Pennsylvania home healthcare agency to pay $810K in back wages, damages to 196 workers denied minimum wage, overtime

WYNCOTE, PA – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment requiring a Wyncote home healthcare agency and its owner, Dominique Conner, to pay 196 direct care employees a total of $810,320 in back wages and liquidated damages for routinely not paying workers overtime rates and willfully violating federal law.

November 7, 2024

Abiomed Inc. to pay $57K to resolve alleged gender-based promotion discrimination at Danvers, Massachusetts, headquarters

BOSTON – The U.S. Department of Labor announced today that its Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs and Abiomed Inc., a federal medical equipment supplier, have entered into a conciliation agreement to resolve allegations of gender-based promotion discrimination at the company’s Danvers headquarters. 

November 7, 2024

US Department of Labor awards more than $10.5M in grants to support mine safety, health training across the nation

WASHINGTON  The U.S. Department of Labor announced today that its Mine Safety and Health Administration has awarded more than $10.5 million in grants to organizations in 45 states, the Navajo Nation and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands to reduce mining accidents, injuries and illnesses by supporting programs such as safety and health courses.

November 7, 2024

Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report

In the week ending November 2, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 221,000, an increase of 3,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 2,000 from 216,000 to 218,000. The 4-week moving average was 227,250, a decrease of 9,750 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 500 from 236,500 to 237,000.

November 6, 2024

US Department of Labor hosts annual conference for nation’s mine safety, health trainers at National Mine Health and Safety Academy, Nov. 12-15

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor announced today that its Mine Safety and Health Administration is holding its annual Training Resources Applied to Mining conference in Beaver, West Virginia, from Nov. 12 to 15. 

November 6, 2024

US Department of Labor sues Puerto Rico-based service providers, executives to stop excessive fees, self-dealing; recover health plans’ funds

Date of action:           November 5, 2024

Type of action:          Complaint filing

Defendants:               Suffolk Administrative Services LLC, San Juan, Puerto Rico

November 6, 2024

Crystal Lake contractor faces $287K in fines after exposing framing workers in Elburn to potentially deadly fall risks 3 times in less than a month

CRYSTAL LAKE, IL – Federal inspectors have cited 595 Construction LLC - a Crystal Lake contractor with a history of exposing employees to fall hazards - for eight safety violations after finding employees framing a residential structure without required protections three times at three residential worksites in the same neighborhood in May 2024. 

November 5, 2024

Statement from Acting Secretary Su on International Association of Machinists’ vote to accept proposed Boeing Company contract

WASHINGTON – Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su issued the following statement on International Association of Machinists members voting to approve a new contract proposal from the Boeing Company.

November 4, 2024

Department of Labor encouraged by decline in worker death investigations

WASHINGTON – Fewer workers are dying from hazards where the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has focused its enforcement resources. Preliminary agency data show a decrease in fatalities the agency is mandated to investigate, including significant reductions in fatal injuries from trench collapses and falls, two of the leading causes of death among construction industry workers.