MCGUIRE AIR FORCE BASE, NJ – A widespread investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor has recovered nearly $16 million in back wages and restored over 24,700 paid sick leave hours to leave banks for more than 2,800 workers denied their full wages and benefits by 62 subcontractors hired to construct temporary housing and provide services to Afghan refugees at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor announced today that its Mine Safety and Health Administration completed impact inspections at 16 mines in 11 states in December 2023, issuing 247 violations.

The agency began conducting impact inspections after an April 2010 explosion in West Virginia at the Upper Big Branch Mine killed 29 miners. 

MADISON, WI ‒ Responding to a report of workers being exposed to anhydrous ammonia, federal investigators found a Madison ice cream plant lacked sufficient process safety management procedures to control the release of hazardous chemicals. Exposure to anhydrous ammonia, used in the refrigeration process, can cause respiratory injuries and burns to the skin and eyes. 

ROME, GA – A Silver Creek plumbing contractor could have prevented a 34-year-old employee’s June 2023 fatal fall at a Rome work site by following required safety procedures, a U.S. Department of Labor investigation found.

Employer name:           The Sweet Place LLC operating as Cold Stone Creamery

Investigation sites:      175 25th St., Suite 100, Ogden, UT 84401

                                                1917 W. 1800 N., Suite A5, Clinton, UT 84015

                                                936 N. Main St., Suite D, Layton, UT 84041

MANTECA, CA - Un restaurante de California deberá pagar $824,405 en salarios atrasados y compensación por daños a 102 trabajadores después de que una investigación del Departamento de Trabajo de EE.UU. descubriera que las prácticas salariales de la empresa negaban a los empleados el pago de tarifas de sobretiempo por las horas trabajadas por encima de 40 semanales como exige la ley.

MANTECA, CA – A restaurant in California will pay $824,405 in back wages and liquidated damages to 102 workers after an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor found the company’s pay practices denied employees overtime pay for the hours they worked beyond 40 per week, as the law requires.

Employers:    Superior Ventures Unlimited LLC ‒ operating as Subway 

                        Miranda Barajas-Brazil 

Actions:          U.S. Department of Labor enforcement of an administrative subpoena issued for Fair Labor Standards Act investigation

Courts:           U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Southern Division

Employer:                              Excelsior Ambulance Service Inc.

                                                173 SE Baya Drive

                                                Lake City, FL 32025

Employer: M & M Enterprises Inc. ‒ operating as Worldwide Missions Consignment Store

                   301 N. Congress Ave., 

                   Evansville, IN

In the week ending January 20, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 214,000, an increase of 25,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 2,000 from 187,000 to 189,000. The 4-week moving average was 202,250, a decrease of 1,500 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 500 from 203,250 to 203,750.

Employers:    

Arora Hospitality Group LLC

Banee Corporation

Harjap Hospitality Group LLC 

MKE Oil Corporation

Oshkosh Hospitality Group LLC 

Hardeep Arora                        

Actions:          U.S. Department of Labor enforcement of an administrative subpoena issued under the Fair Labor Standards Act as part of an ongoing investigation

MIAMI: El Departamento de Trabajo de los Estados Unidos ha recuperado $901,625 en concepto de salarios atrasados e indemnización por daños y perjuicios para 75 trabajadores de una tienda de comestibles de Florida tras comprobar que su empleador les exento erróneamente del pago de horas extraordinarias.

LINCOLN, NE – A federal court has issued an order holding a Nebraska roofing contractor — who has stalled federal investigators for nearly a year — in contempt of court and imposing a fine of $100 a day if he fails to comply with a subpoena to provide the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration with documents necessary for an investigation of an employee's fall off a residential roof in Lincoln in February 2023.

Employer name:  Kanawha County Parks and Recreation Commission, doing business as Big Bend Golf, doing business as Coonskin Park

Investigation sites: 

375 Henry C Hoppy Shores Drive, Charleston, West Virginia 25302

151 Riverview Drive, Tornado, West Virginia 25202

Employer name:        Comfort Air of Grand Junction LLC

Investigation site:     746 Scarlet St.

                                            Grand Junction, CO 81505

EAST LAKE, OH ‒ Responding to the sixth amputation injury reported by an Ohio musical instrument manufacturer in the past eight years, federal investigators found employees at the East Lake facility were injured at four times the industry average rate in the past five years. 

MIAMI – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $901,625 in back wages and liquidated damages for 75 workers of a Florida grocery store enterprise after finding their employer wrongly exempted them from eligibility for overtime pay.

WASHINGTON – Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su issued the following statement in response to the Bureau of Labor Statistics release of its annual Union Membership data:

Read this news release in English.

WILMINGTON, NC: El Departamento de Trabajo de los EE. UU. recuperó $168,796 en salarios atrasados para 51 trabajadores de una empresa contratista de respuesta a tormentas de Wilmington que los clasificó erróneamente como contratistas independientes y no les pagó durante varios meses después de terminar el trabajo.