WATERLOO, IL ‒ A Breese contractor who ignored a city engineer’s repeated verbal and written instructions to use trench cave-in protection faces penalties after federal workplace safety inspectors found the employer failed to protect workers installing storm sewer lines from potentially deadly trench cave-ins on a least five occasions.

DEDEDO, GUAM – The U.S. Department of Labor will send experts from its Occupational Safety and Health Administration to areas of Guam hardest hit by Typhoon Mawar to protect the safety and health of recovery workers as part of the federal response and recovery effort after the storm struck the island in late May.

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.

Employer:                              Tipsy Holding II LLC, operating as Tipsy Taco

Investigation sites:               215 Pelham Road, Greenville, SC 29615 – Headquarters

                                                15 Conostee Ave., Greenville, SC 29605

                                                728 Wade Hampton Blvd., Greenville, SC 29609

WASHINGTON – U.S. Assistant Secretary of Labor for Public Affairs Julie McClain Downey issued the following statement on the May 2023 Employment Situation Report:

ATLANTA – Workplace safety inspections by the U.S. Department of Labor in Alabama and Florida have found three Dollar General locations exposing employees to fire hazards and other unsafe conditions.

Employer name:       Petroline Inc., operator of Putnam Truck Stop                                                                                                                                                                           565 Tonnele Ave., Jersey City, New Jersey 07307

SAN FRANCISCO – Home to thousands of winemakers who produce 80 percent of the wine in the U.S., California vineyards also yield their share of unscrupulous employers who profit by taking advantage of migrant and seasonal farmworkers as the harvest season approaches.

To combat violations that deny workers their hard-earned wages or jeopardize their safety, the U.S. Department of Labor has stepped up its outreach and enforcement efforts in the Golden State.

In the week ending May 27, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 232,000, an increase of 2,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 229,000 to 230,000. The 4-week moving average was 229,500, a decrease of 2,500 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 250 from 231,750 to 232,000.

NEWTON, KS – After federal investigators found, for the second time in a year, that the owners and operators of 17 Sonic Drive-In locations in Kansas illegally allowed children to work longer and at times not permitted by law, the U.S. District Court of Kansas has ordered the franchisees to stop violating child labor regulations.

Who:             U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration

                       The Safety Council of Greater St. Louis                  

What:             Workplace safety and health alliance

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor announced today that its Mine Safety and Health Administration completed impact inspections at 20 mines in 15 states in April 2023 and found 335 violations.

MANCHESTER, NH – When a Vermont employer fired an employee who said they would contact the “labor board” if they did not get paid for job-related travel time, the company violated federal protections against retaliation and found themselves facing costly consequences after a U.S. Department of Labor investigation.

MINNEAPOLIS – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment in federal court requiring the operator of a home healthcare provider franchise in Golden Valley to pay $121,000 in back overtime wages and liquidated damages to 25 certified nursing and patient care assistants after a federal investigation found the employer denied them overtime pay.

RENO, NV – Federal investigators have found the operator of six Nevada Sonic Drive-In locations illegally allowed 14- and 15-year-old teenagers to work more hours and at times not permitted by federal child labor regulations and assigned them to operate manual deep fryers, a task considered a hazardous occupation.

HARTSHORNE, OK – When federal workplace safety investigators opened inspections in December 2022 at two Dollar General stores in southeast Oklahoma, they found blocked exit routes and walkways exposing employees to fire hazards, the same types of violations investigators discovered in stores across the nation operated by the national discount retailer.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the availability of up to $653 million in grants to modernize unemployment insurance information technology systems and to participate in pilots. Funded by the American Rescue Plan Act, the grants will help states modernize their technology, increase flexibility and performance, protect against fraud proactively and make claims processing more efficient.

SAN FRANCISCO – The U.S.

Date of Action:          May 25, 2023 

Type of Action:         Employee Retirement Income Security Act consent order and judgment

Company/Owners:    Chicago Metropolitan Obstetricians and Gynecologists Ltd.

Dr. Ernest Hayes

WASHINGTON – To curb widespread gender-based violence and harassment in workplaces across all industries and occupations, the U.S. Department of Labor today announced that its Women’s Bureau has signed a memorandum of understanding with the International Labour Organization Office for the United States and Canada to create a world of work free of gender-based violence and harassment.