TRAVERSE CITY, MI – The H-2B Visa program exists to help supply employers with temporary foreign workers they need while protecting U.S. workers’ access to the same jobs. The program does not permit employers to misuse the program and not pay foreign and U.S. workers the same legally required wages.

CHICAGO – Kitchen staff worked countless hours making authentic dishes like Banh Mi and Pho for a fixed salary while co-workers serving customers seeking Vietnamese cuisine at a popular Chicago restaurant often worked for tips only.

ST. PAUL – Twin Cities’ area shoppers know about Supermercado Lomabonita’s five locations, but they may not know that a recent U.S. Department of Labor investigation found the grocer failed to pay overtime to its cooks, butchers, bakers and cashiers as required by law.

AZLE, TX – The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas has sentenced a former secretary-treasurer of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen Division 620 in Azle for embezzlement after an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.

On Jan. 29, 2021, the court sentenced Edward C. Davis, Jr. to 6 months incarceration and 3 years supervised release. Davis must also pay $61,386 in restitution.

MAUMEE, OH – While records at Journey Through Life Care Services LLC showed the Maumee health care service provider paid employees legally required state minimum wage plus time-and-a-half for overtime, federal investigators found the employer regularly failed to pay its employees overtime wages – sometimes paying a mere 50 cents per hour more for hours over 40 in a workweek.

KANSAS CITY, MO – The U.S. Department of Labor filed a complaint in U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas against Wichita, Kansas-based Medova Healthcare Financial Group LLC, its president and CEO Daniel L. Whitney, chief operating officer Michelle Willson and Midlands Casualty Insurance Co. Inc.

INDIANAPOLIS, IN – BSN Sports LLC Indianapolis will pay $600,000 in back pay and interest to more than 3,000 job applicants at its Indianapolis, Indiana, production facility as part an agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) to resolve alleged hiring discrimination.

NEW YORK, NY – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) has entered into an Early Resolution Conciliation Agreement with JP Morgan Chase & Co., resolving allegations that the financial institution engaged in systemic compensation discrimination against female employees in certain professional positions, and establishes enhanced future compliance commitments.

BOSTON, MA – A federal court in Massachusetts has issued a temporary restraining order against two construction contractors and a representative of one of the companies to prevent retaliation or discrimination after the defendants began a campaign of alleged threats and retaliation against an employee who complained about not receiving overtime pay and requested money he was due.

MANCHESTER, NH – The U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire has ordered C & C Flooring LLC and owner Christopher Coburn to pay 33 current and former employees a total of $240,000 in back wages and liquidated damages and $10,000 in punitive damages, to resolve violations of the overtime and anti-retaliation provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The defendants have also paid a civil money penalty of $13,688 for the willful nature of the violations.

NEW YORK, NY – The U.S. Department of Labor has executed a region wide corporate settlement agreement with Target Corp. to correct exit access and storage hazards and enhance worker safety at about 200 of the retailer’s stores in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York.

NEW YORK, NY – The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York has ordered the trustees of four benefit plans for United Derrickmen & Riggers Association, Local Union 197, in Long Island City, New York, to restore $475,000 to the plans, pay a $95,000 penalty to the U.S. Department of Labor and take other corrective actions to resolve violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).

CLEVELAND, OH – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent order and judgment requiring the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART) Union and the current trustees of the SMART Group Voluntary Short Term Disability Plan (SMART VSTD Plan) to restore $6,545,454 to the Plan.

NEW YORK, NY – After an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD), Weaver Racing Inc. and owner George R. Weaver paid a total of $425,000 in court-ordered back wages, liquidated damages and civil penalties for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the labor provisions of the H-2B visa program.

HARTFORD, CT – The U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut has approved a consent order and judgment requiring fiduciaries Executive Printing of Darien LLC, Chapin Packaging LLC and John Trask Pfeifle to restore $17,352.83 to the Darien, Connecticut, companies’ 401(k) retirement benefits plan.

COLUMBUS, OH – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a default judgment requiring Robert Walton, Jr. – CEO of Hadsell Chemical Processing – to restore $65,842 to the Hadsell Chemical Processing Simple IRA Plan after the Department’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) found that Walton, as plan fiduciary, violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).

LANSDOWNE, PA – Following an appeal by the U.S. Department of Labor, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania has ordered Central Laundry Inc., owner George Rengepes and business operator James Rengepes to pay $527,986 in back wages and liquidated damages in addition to the $478,539 awarded by the court in 2018.

PHOENIX, AZ – The U.S. Department of Labor secured a $3,000,000 consent judgment against Stratis Construction Inc. – a residential drywall company based in Phoenix, Arizona – for violating overtime and recordkeeping requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

MCLEAN, VA – The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia has approved a default judgment that requires Mahan Consulting Group LLC and its president and owner Shaun Marzett to restore $21,880 to the 401(k), health and welfare benefit plans of the now defunct consulting company in McLean, Virginia.

NEW YORK, NY – An administrative law judge with the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission has upheld citations and penalties from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) against Timberline Hardwood Floors LLC, a custom hardwood-flooring manufacturer that falsely claimed to have corrected previously cited hazards. The judge’s decision also orders the company to pay $166,265 in penalties for all violations.