December 10, 2015

WHD News Release: Southern California flooring contractor pays more than $458K in back wages, damages to 127 workers following US Labor Department investigation [12/10/2015]

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Drivers experience frustrations when stuck in congested traffic areas, such as Los Angeles. Sometimes, other factors test their tolerance, such as spending multiple hours behind the wheel each day for work and not getting paid for all that time, as required by law. That is what happened to 127 workers in Riverside.

December 10, 2015

WHD News Brief: Painting contractor in Phoenix to pay nearly $200K in back wages, damages and penalties following US Labor Department investigation [12/10/2015]

Employer: Arizona Painting Company LLC

Site: 3235 N. Arizona Avenue, Suite D-10, Chandler, Arizona 85225

December 8, 2015

WHD News Brief: Cal-Clean fined after 17-year-old has lower leg amputated while illegally cleaning machinery at Canton, Ohio, chicken processing facility [12/08/2015]

CANTON, Ohio — A teenage worker had his left leg amputated below the knee when his employer illegally allowed him to clean a giblet chiller machine at a Canton chicken processing facility.

December 8, 2015

WHD News Brief: 3 Amigos Fresh Mexican Grill paying nearly $104K in back wages and damages to 33 workers following U.S. Labor Department investigation [12/08/2015]

Employer: Leonardo M. Rodriguez, doing business as 3 Amigos Fresh Mexican Grill

Sites: Three Los Angeles-area locations: 365 E. Avenida de los Arboles, Thousand Oaks; 20040 Ventura Boulevard, Woodland Hills; and 139 N. Reino Rd., Newbury Park.

December 8, 2015

WHD News Brief: Lawsuit seeks unpaid wages and damages for employees of Yakima, Washington Sunshine Motel Inn [12/08/2015]

Date of Action: Nov. 18, 2015

Type of Action: Fair Labor Standards Act Lawsuit

Names of Defendants: Sunshine Motel Inn LLC; and Rajiv Sauson, an individual

December 7, 2015

WHD News Brief: US Labor Department recovers more than $342K in unpaid overtime wages, damages for 22 So Cal construction and maintenance employees [12/07/2015]

Employer: Salinas Inc.

Site: 1537 E. McFadden Avenue, Suite G, Santa Ana, California 92705

December 3, 2015

WHD News Brief: Guam contractor to pay $190K in unpaid fringe benefits to employees for federal contract violations [12/03/2015]

Employers: Able Industries of the Pacific, Inc.

Sites: Formerly located at 341 South Marine Corps Drive, Jay Ease Building Suite 204, in Tamuning, Guam. (Business has closed)

Investigation findings: Able Industries failed to pay legally required health and welfare benefits to hundreds of employees who provided dining, janitorial and maintenance services at several facilities at Anderson Air Force Base and Naval Base Guam from 2011 to 2013 in violation of the Service Contract Act.

December 2, 2015

OSHA News Brief: Alabama staffing agency to pay nearly $134K in back wages after denying 218 workers overtime compensation [12/02/2015]

Employer name: NSC Technologies Inc.

Investigation site: 2601 Government St., Mobile, Alabama 36606

December 2, 2015

WHD News Brief: Phoenix-area restaurants to pay more than $105K in overtime back wages and damages to 19 employees working at three locations [12/02/2015]

Employer: Grassroots Kitchen and Tap #1, LLC, Grassroots Kitchen and Tap #2, LLC and Twisted Grove #1, LLC

Sites: Grassroots Kitchen and Tap #1 (8120 N. Hayden, Scottsdale, Arizona 85258); Grassroots Kitchen and Tap #2 (2119 East Camelback Road, Phoenix, Arizona 85016); and Twisted Grove Parlor and Bar (8220 N. Hayden Road, Scottsdale, Arizona 85258)

December 2, 2015

WHD News Brief: US Labor Department investigation finds injured minor was illegally employed by B&M Metals in Murrayville, Georgia [12/02/2015]

Employer name: Custom Metal Roofing Inc., doing business as B&M Metals

Investigation site: 603 Major Abercrombie Circle, Murrayville, Georgia 30564

December 1, 2015

WHD News Brief: Puerto Rico security guard company to pay more than $166K in back wages, liquidated damages to 243 employees misclassified as independent contractors [12/01/2015]

Date of action: Oct. 30, 2015

Type of action: Consent Judgment

Names of defendant: Optimus Investigations Corp. and Jorge Rivera Berrios

November 30, 2015

OSHA News Brief: US Labor Department investigation reveals Athens Rehab and Senior Care in Alabama failed to pay overtime [11/30/2015]

Employer name: Best Health LLC, doing business as Athens Rehab and Senior Care

Investigation site: 6111 West Market St, Athens, Alabama 35611

November 24, 2015

WHD News Release: US Labor Department secures nearly $290K in back wages, damages for employees of La Bella Vida Assisted Living Facility [11/24/2015]

TAMPA, Fla. — La Bella Vida Assisted Living Facility Inc., a Tampa business, and its owner, Mavel Infante, are paying $287,087 in back wages and liquidated damages to 20 workers. Judge Virginia Hernandez Covington of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida issued a judgment against the firm and its owner on Nov. 17.

November 24, 2015

WHD News Brief: U.S. Labor Department secures a seven-year debarment against an unregistered farm labor contractor in Hawaii [11/24/2015]

Employer: Tomasa Rincon-Ibarra, as an individual, and doing business as Tomasita Farm Service

Site: Holualoa, Hawaii

November 24, 2015

WHD News Brief: US Labor Department's investigation of Trademark Garage Floors Inc. in Florida yields nearly $42K in back wages for 22 employees [11/24/2015]

Employer name: Trademark Garage Floors Inc.

Investigation site: 5839 Trouble Creek Road, New Port Richey, Florida 34652

November 24, 2015

WHD News Release: Middlefield, Ohio, pallet maker fined for illegally employing 14-year-old to operate machine, resulting in hand amputation [11/24/2015]

MIDDLEFIELD, Ohio — A teenage worker's life was altered forever when his Middlefield employer illegally allowed him to operate a wood planer, which amputated a 14-year-old's hand.

November 19, 2015

WHD News Brief: Saipan office supply retailer to pay more than $30K in back wages to nine employees following US Labor Department investigation [11/19/2015]

Employers: Sun & Surf Limited, doing business as National Office Supply

Site: P.O. Box 5779 CHRB Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands 96950

November 19, 2015

WHD News Release: Nursing home staffing agency ordered to pay more than $636K in back wages to at least 150 direct care staff at 10 New Jersey nursing homes [11/19/2015]

HACKENSACK, N.J. — A federal judge has ordered Broadway Healthcare Management LLC and its owner, Michael Konig, to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in denied overtime pay plus an additional amount in interest to at least 150 direct care staff who worked at 10 nursing homes throughout New Jersey.

November 18, 2015

WHD News Brief: Phoenix foster care housing provider ordered to pay more than $186K in back wages to 98 workers wrongly classified as 'exempt' from overtime [11/18/2015]

Employer: Family Support Resources Inc.

Sites: 24 residential foster care housing sites throughout Phoenix metro area

November 17, 2015

WHD News Release: MARTA repeatedly violated federal leave protections affecting more than 70 workers, US Labor Department finds [11/17/2015]

ATLANTA — For the second time, federal investigators have found the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority violated employees' rights to take unpaid, job-protected leave for a qualifying medical or family issue.

A follow-up investigation to one conducted in 2013 by the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division found that the city's mass transit system, known as MARTA, violated its workers' rights to leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act — a law since 1993.