ATLANTA – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration urges first responders, people in recovery efforts, and residents in areas affected by Tropical Storm Nicole to be aware of the many hazards that flooding, power loss, structural damage, fallen trees and storm debris may create.

Employer:                          5 Caring Hearts LLC

Investigation site:         2110 McLean St., Suite 3

                                                Aliquippa, Pennsylvania

PIKESVILLE, MD – The U.S. Department of Labor is trying to locate home healthcare workers employed from April 2020 through March 2022 by a Pikesville company who may be owed part of nearly $1.13 million in back wages and damages the department’s Wage and Hour Division recovered on their behalf.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the award of $6,848,992 in grants to state employment insurance systems in Delaware, Montana and Wyoming to enhance awareness and improve delivery of unemployment insurance benefits to people who face obstacles to access.

CALUMET CITY, IL – Three times in four months, federal safety inspectors observed workers employed by a Calumet City roofing contractor exposed to deadly fall hazards at job sites in Lake Zurich and Wheeling. In each instance, the company’s foremen on site failed to protect workers from known hazards as they did residential framing work on new homes under construction.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced an incremental award of $2,677,470 to the Texas Workforce Commission to support continued employment and training services for transitioning military service members and their spouses near and at the U.S. Army’s Fort Hood installation.  

BRAINTREE, MA – On May 5, 2022, an employee of an Everett demolition contractor lost his legs when a concrete mezzanine platform on the west wall of a building at the former Boston Edison power plant in South Boston collapsed during demolition and asbestos abatement operations. Two other workers suffered injuries as well.

Employer name: Nagase & Co. Ltd., operating as Armada Nutrition LLC

Investigation site: 4637 Port Royal Road, Spring Hill, TN 37174

In the week ending November 5, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 225,000, an increase of 7,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 217,000 to 218,000. The 4-week moving average was 218,750, a decrease of 250 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 250 from 218,750 to 219,000.

LINCOLN, NE – The U.S. Department of Labor today asked a federal court to issue a nationwide temporary restraining order and injunction against Packers Sanitation Services Inc. LTD – one of the nation’s leading providers of food safety sanitation – to stop the company from illegally employing dozens of minor-aged workers while the department continues its investigation of the company’s labor practices.

MAPLETON, IL ‒ On June 2, 2022, a 39-year-old employee of a Mapleton foundry fell and was immediately incinerated in an 11-foot-deep pot of molten iron heated to more than 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. A federal investigation determined that, if required safety guards or fall protection had been installed, the 39-year-old employee’s ninth day on the job might not have been their last.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today recognized 835 employers from around the nation for their commitment to hiring and retaining U.S. military veterans during an online event broadcast from the department’s Washington headquarters.

CHICAGO ‒ With injury rates among the more than 90,000 food production workers in Illinois and Ohio significantly higher than other manufacturing workers, the U.S. Department of Labor has stepped up its outreach and enforcement efforts to reduce workplace hazards and better protect workers in these states.

BRAINTREE, MA – A Quincy-based roofing contractor exposed workers on the roofs of a garage and house in Boston’s Mattapan neighborhood to potentially fatal falls from heights between seven and 21 feet, U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspectors found.

PHOENIX – The U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona has ordered a Phoenix-based provider of non-medical home care services to pay 253 employees a total of $521,905 in back wages and liquidated damages after the U.S. Department of Labor determined the employer willfully denied them overtime pay.

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

“Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the American economy added 261,000 jobs in the month of October, and the unemployment rate rose to 3.7 percent from 3.5 percent in September, continuing to remain near historic lows for the past several months.

ATLANTA – As the nation marks Home Care and Hospice Month, the U.S. Department of Labor will hold a public webinar on federal wage and hour regulations for home care, residential care and nursing care industry employers, workers and other stakeholders in the Southeast.

LYNDHURST, NJ – The U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey has ordered a northern New Jersey staffing agency to pay $65,000 in damages to an employee fired after they raised concerns about not getting paid for all of their hours worked.

MANCHESTER, NH – A federal investigation into the pay practices of a New Hampshire home care service provider that found the employer denied employees overtime wages has recovered $374,640 in back wages and liquidated damages for 46 healthcare workers.

MEDFORD, OR – A federal investigation has recovered $375,233 in back wages and liquidated damages from a Medford restaurant for 11 workers after finding their employer kept servers tips, threatened to fire employees if they kept cash tips, and failed to pay kitchen workers overtime.