LAS VEGAS – After a 2013 investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor that recovered $47,393 from a Nevada paint and specialty coatings contractor and its owner whose illegal pay practices denied 21 Utah workers overtime wages, a reasonable employer might try to avoid repeating a bad and costly decision.

Cory Summerhays, owner of Unforgettable Coatings Inc. – a Las Vegas company operating in Arizona, Idaho, Nevada and Utah – chose instead to double down, and then some. 

WASHINGTON – The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement’s Interagency Labor Committee for Monitoring and Enforcement today requested that the government of Mexico conduct another review at the VU Manufacturing parts facility in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, in response to an allegation the facility continues to deny workers’ rights.

AURORA, IL – While workers at a local supermarket stocked shelves, operated cash registers and served customers Mexican hot foods and baked goods, their Aurora employer was denying them their hard-earned overtime pay for two years, the U.S. Department of Labor recently found.

After its investigation, the department’s Wage and Hour Division has recovered a total of $399,851 in back wages and liquidated damages for 49 workers at Supermercado Carrera, a family-owned supermarket.

AURORA, IL – El Departamento de Trabajo de EE.UU. descubrió recientemente que mientras que los trabajadores de un supermercado local de Aurora suplían estanterías, operaban cajas registradoras y servían a los clientes comidas y productos mexicanos, su empleador les negó durante dos años sus pagos por horas extra.

JOLIET, IL – Federal investigators have found a Joliet restaurant and catering company illegally employed 25 minor-aged workers as bussers, runners and dishwashers after 7 p.m. on school nights and 9 p.m. on weekends, and some more than 18 hours a week, and denied seven other workers overtime for hours over 40 in workweek.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor announced that its Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued new enforcement guidance to make its penalties more effective in stopping employers from repeatedly exposing workers to life-threatening hazards or failing to comply with certain workplace safety and health requirements.

KINGMAN, KS ‒ A Kingman plastics manufacturer’s failure to make sure required safety procedures were followed contributed to the death of a worker who suffered fatal injuries when he became entangled in a rotating part inside a bagging machine while trying to clear a jam, a federal workplace safety investigation found.

GAINESVILLE, FL – A Gainesville psychiatric and substance abuse hospital has implemented a series of changes to their safety protocols after the U.S. Department of Labor cited the facility for failing to protect employees from workplace violence after a series of incidents left employees with serious injuries.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced its selection of 10 states and the District of Columbia to participate as “core states” in its National Expansion of Employment Opportunities Network initiative.

BRECKENRIDGE, CO – The owner of a Vail construction company facing a felony manslaughter charge has surrendered to local law enforcement after the Summit County Judge Edward J. Casias issued an arrest warrant on Jan. 23, 2023, related to the findings of a federal safety investigation into a deadly trench collapse in November 2021.

Employer:                  Senior Healthcare Advisors LLC

Investigation site:      816 S Military Trail

                                    Deerfield Beach, FL 33442

ATLANTA – Just weeks after being cited with federal safety violations, Dollar General Corp. and Dolgencorp LLC have once again exposed workers to unsafe conditions, this time at two store locations in Florida and another in Alabama.

In the week ending January 21, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 186,000, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 2,000 from 190,000 to 192,000. The 4-week moving average was 197,500, a decrease of 9,250 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 750 from 206,000 to 206,750.

Participants:      U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational

                                  Safety and Health Administration

                                  Drywall and Acoustical Tile Contractors  

                                  Association

WATERFORD, OH – Con entrenamiento adecuado, personas que trabajan en instalaciones de fundición de metales saben que mezclar agua y material fundido puede ser un grave error, cuando no mortal, como pudo comprobarse en trágicos incidentes ocurridos en dos empresas de Ohio en 2022.

Employer:                              Heine Brothers Inc.

Investigation site:                  1301 W. Main St.

                                                Louisville, KY 40203

MANCHESTER, NH – A Manchester chimney services contractor has paid a total of $26,163 to three workers to resolve allegations that the employer violated the Fair Labor Standards Act’s anti-retaliation provisions enforced by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division.

WATERFORD, OH ‒ With proper training, people working in metal casting facilities know that mixing water and molten material can be a serious, if not deadly mistake, as tragic incidents at two Ohio companies in 2022 showed.

NASHVILLE, TN – The U.S. Department of Labor has found the U.S. Postal Service exposed workers to struck-by, electrical, crushing, fire and other health hazards at facilities in Columbia, Knoxville and Nashville.

BIRMINGHAM, AL – Una empresa fabricante de plásticos se declaró culpable en una corte federal de Alabama de haber violado deliberadamente requisitos de seguridad ocupacional en el caso de la muerte de una trabajadora de 45 años en Helena en agosto del 2017 que investigó el Departamento de Trabajo de EE.UU.

La Sección de Crímenes Ambientales del Departamento de Justicia de EE.UU. y la Oficina del Fiscal del Distrito Norte de Alabama procesaron el caso.