NASHVILLE, TN – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $47,728 in back wages and liquidated damages for two former employees of two separate Tennessee-based healthcare providers that violated their rights to protected leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act.

In the week ending January 13, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 187,000, a decrease of 16,000 from the previous week's revised level. This is the lowest level for initial claims since September 24, 2022 when it was 182,000. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 202,000 to 203,000. The 4-week moving average was 203,250, a decrease of 4,750 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 250 from 207,750 to 208,000.

ATLANTA – A global electric vehicle battery manufacturer exposed employees at its Commerce plant to serious and potentially disabling safety and health hazards, a U.S. Department of Labor workplace safety inspection found.

The department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited SK Battery America Inc. with six serious violations and one other-than-serious violation after finding the company:

FOREST PARK, IL – For the fourth time since 2007, Proviso Township High School District 209 has been found in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act, this time for failing to pay public school security guards overtime wages.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor announced today that its Employee Benefits Security Administration has issued guidance to improve retirement security through pension-linked emergency savings accounts, part of the implementation of the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022.

INDIANAPOLIS – For the third time in five years, federal investigators found an Indianapolis security company violated federal wage laws by failing to pay guards overtime at time and one-half their regular rate of pay for hours over 40 in a workweek. 

ITASCA, IL ‒ An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration found an Itasca manufacturer failed to guard industrial equipment, develop a lockout/tagout program and train workers on machine safety procedures, exposing them to multiple injuries and amputation hazards. 

LOS ÁNGELES - El Departamento de Trabajo de los EE. UU. recuperó $305.977 en salarios atrasados e indemnizaciones por daños y perjuicios para 47 trabajadores de una empresa de construcción de Palmdale que no les pagó el tiempo que pasaban trabajando antes y después de sus turnos, ni por el tiempo que pasaban viajando para llegar al depósito de la empresa.

LOS ANGELES – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $305,977 in back wages and damages for 47 people employed by a Palmdale construction company that deliberately failed to pay them for time spent working before and after their shifts and when traveling to and from the company’s yard.

AUSTIN, TX – The U.S.

HATTIESBURG, MS – For the second time in just over two years, a poultry processing plant in Hattiesburg has disregarded safety standards that have led to a worker’s death, this time a 16-year-old sanitation worker who was pulled into a machine, federal safety investigators found.   

SAN JOSE, CA – The U.S. Department of Labor announced today that its Wage and Hour Division District Office in San Jose and the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office in Santa Rosa signed a collaborative partnership to enhance joint outreach efforts and enforcement of labor laws to protect workers’ rights and fight wage theft.

NEW YORK – In March 2020, as COVID-19 became a global pandemic, an employee of a Staten Island community health center asked permission to allow a regularly scheduled meeting to be held by teleconference – and then changed the format of the meeting to teleconference – rather than meeting in-person in a windowless conference room.

WASHINGTON – Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su joined members and leaders of Arriba Las Vegas Workers Center on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024, for a roundtable discussion on protections for immigrant workers and their enforcement.

HARTFORD, CT – After an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor, a federal court entered a consent judgment requiring a government contractor based in New Bern, North Carolina, to pay a total of $13,085 in back pay and punitive damages to an employee for violating the anti-retaliation provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. 

Read this news release in English.

Empleador:                            All Florida Weatherproofing & Construction Inc.

                                                4231 112th Terrace North

                                                Clearwater, FL 33762                           

Read this news release En Español.

Employer:                              All Florida Weatherproofing & Construction Inc.

                                                4231 112th Terrace North

                                                Clearwater, FL 33762

PHILADELPHIA – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment in federal court that requires a Philadelphia home healthcare agency and its owner to pay approximately $1.6 million in back wages and liquidated damages to 288 workers deliberately denied overtime pay.

NEW YORK – The U.S. Department of Labor has launched a multi-year program to reduce worker fatalities and injuries in the tree and landscape services industries in New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. 

In the week ending January 6, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 202,000, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 202,000 to 203,000. The 4-week moving average was 207,750, a decrease of 250 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 250 from 207,750 to 208,000.