CHANDLER, MN – A national food manufacturer paid $140,164 in civil money penalties after the U.S. Department of Labor found the company employed at least 11 children – nine of whom operated hazardous machinery – at its meatpacking and food processing facility in Chandler, Minnesota.

SANTA MARIA, CA – A federal court has entered a consent judgment that orders a Santa Maria farm labor contractor to pay more than $1 million in back wages and penalties after the U.S. Department of Labor found the employer again violated regulations of the H-2A agricultural worker program.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced today that the department’s Wage and Hour Division and the EEOC signed a formal partnership that will enhance and maximize the enforcement of federal laws and regulations.

GREEN BAY, WI – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a federal consent order and judgment against sawmill operator Florence Hardwoods LLC following the death of a child. The order requires the Florence County company to place labels and signage to prevent children under age 18 from using dangerous equipment and entering the company’s sawmill and planer buildings.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced a notice of proposed rulemaking that would restore and extend overtime protections to 3.6 million salaried workers. The proposed rule would guarantee overtime pay for most salaried workers earning less than $1,059 per week, about $55,000 per year.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor announced today that it will offer online compliance seminars in September for contracting agencies, contractors, unions, workers and other stakeholders to provide information on recent updates to regulations governing employment practices for federally funded contracts.

DURHAM, NC – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered more than $1.6 million in back wages and liquidated damages for 188 workers, many of them denied minimum and overtime wages by a North Carolina construction services contractor who misclassified the employees as independent contractors.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the issuance of the final rule “Updating the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts Regulation” to update regulations that implement the Davis-Bacon Act and Davis-Bacon and Related Acts to reflect better the needs of construction workers on federal construction investments.

WASHINGTON – As people around the globe recognize World Breastfeeding Week and the U.S. honors National Breastfeeding Month, the U.S. Department of Labor today launched “Power to Pump,” a nationwide campaign to raise awareness of protections for millions of additional nursing workers to express milk.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor and its partners from the Interagency Task Force to Combat Child Labor Exploitation today announced its recent actions to hold companies accountable for violating federal child labor laws.

FAIRFAX, VA – A federal court has directed a Fairfax home care agency and its owners to pay more than $1.6 million in back wages and liquidated damages to 202 home health aides in a consent judgment obtained by the U.S. Department of Labor.

CHANDLER, MN – A federal court in Minnesota has entered a consent judgment that requires a national food manufacturing company to comply with the federal child labor laws at all of its production facilities and warehouses nationwide, and to take significant steps to comply with these laws in the future.

ATLANTA – In what may be the largest misclassification case in its history, the U.S. Department of Labor has asked a federal court to force a Florida-based customer service provider for major national brands, including Barnes & Noble, Comcast, Disney and Walgreens, to pay back wages and liquidated damages to more than 22,000 workers after investigators found the employer misclassified employees as independent contractors and denied them their legally required minimum wage and overtime pay.

INDIANOLA, MS – In the summer of 2022, U.S. Department of Labor leaders heard from a group of Black farmworkers in the Mississippi Delta about allegations of abuse and exploitation of Black farmworkers in some of the nation’s poorest counties, including egregious violations of their workplace rights.

HACKENSACK, NJ – Three northern New Jersey supermarkets have paid more than $1.8 million in back wages and damages after federal investigators found the employers deliberately failed to pay required overtime rates to 226 employees who worked overtime at stores in Hackensack, Oakland and Waldwick.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor announced today that its Wage and Hour Division will offer online seminars for contracting agencies, contractors, unions, workers and other stakeholders on the requirements for paying prevailing wages on federally funded construction and service contracts.

PHILADELPHIA – A federal court has ordered a Philadelphia home care agency and its owner to pay more than $7 million in back wages and liquidated damages to 1,230 current and former employees after two years of litigation affirmed the U.S. Department of Labor’s finding that the employers willfully failed to pay overtime wages, in most cases by not including employees’ time for work-related travel when calculating wages.

PHILADELPHIA – A federal court jury has awarded back wages of more than $22 million to the U.S. Department of Labor for more than 7,500 employees working for East Penn Manufacturing Company Inc. — one of the world’s largest battery manufacturers — after the department proved that the company failed to pay them overtime pay.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Departments of Labor and Health and Human Services today announced a Memorandum of Agreement to advance ongoing efforts to address child labor exploitation. 

LOS ANGELES – A survey of Southern California garment-sewing contractors and manufacturers by the U.S. Department of Labor has found workers making garments sold by many of the nation’s leading fashion retailers often continue to be victims of wage theft and employers’ illegal pay practices.