DETROIT – The demands of the job sometimes require employees in the healthcare industry to work through their meal periods but as many employers – including Detroit Medical Center – learn eventually, federal law says these employees must be paid when their duties demand they work through or during meal periods.

Participant:   Dighton Power

Dighton, Massachusetts

Description:   Dighton Power employs about 15 workers at this site, a natural gas power plant generating electricity for the New England power grid.  

Date of Action:          April 10, 2023

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

Company/Owners:    Fred Vargason

Nissan of St. Charles

Nissan of St. Charles Simple IRA Plan

Date of action:                       April 6, 2023

Type of action:                      Fair Labor Standards Act consent order and permanent injunction

Names of defendants:           Pigeon Forge Hospitality, LLC

                                                 Nimesh Patel

WHO:            U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division

WHAT:          Child labor webinars

WHEN:         

May 9, 2023: For employers, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. EDT   

May 11, 2023: For workers, parents, and educators, from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. EDT

CHICAGO ‒ Thirty-nine people died doing trench or excavation work in the U.S. in 2022 – four in Illinois and two others in Ohio. In fact, the number of worker fatalities more than doubled since 2021, continuing a troubling trend cited by the Bureau of Labor Statistics that found 166 workers died in trench cave-ins from 2011-2018, an average of 21 each year.

DES MOINES, IA – In September 2022, the U.S. Department of Labor obtained a consent judgment to recover $1.7 million for nearly 2,900 workers employed by 145 different subcontractors in 2015 to euthanize birds and dispose of carcasses during the avian flu outbreak and is trying to locate workers owed back wages.

Employers:         Nyrio Investments Corp., operating as Stateline Liquor & Wine at 1069 Main Street, Southaven, MS 38671

                             Three Star Investments, operating as Three Star Liquor Store, 3305 South 3rd Street, Memphis, TN 38109

                             Yala Investments Corp., operating as Spirits Unlimited at 3024 Covington Pike Street 1, Memphis, TN 38218

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

JERSEY SHORE, PA – A U.S. Department of Labor investigation has again found Dollar General exposing workers to dangerous safety hazards – including blocked emergency exit routes and electrical panels – this time during a November 2022 inspection at a Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania, store.

Participant:    Guarantee Electrical Contracting LLC

                              1390 Wheeling St.

                              Denver, CO 80239

HOUSTON – A federal workplace safety investigation into a Houston wind turbine parts manufacturing facility – operated by Proinlosa Energy Corp. – determined the employer failed to address safety violations found in a previous inspection from April 2022.

CINCINNATI ‒ While working the overnight sanitation shift at an Ohio food processing plant, a 29-year-old temporary worker – on the job just nine months – suffered critical injuries after falling into an industrial blender he was cleaning and became caught in the rotating paddle augers. The worker’s injuries led to a leg amputation.

Ubicaciones del empleador:   Westheimer Car Wash LLC, 12810 Westheimer Road, Houston (Sede principal)

                                                               Hobby Car Wash LLC, 7991 Bellfort Ave., Houston

                                                               Cypress Car Wash LLC, 12702 Jones Road, Houston                      

BOLLINGER COUNTY, MO - Workers and others engaged in recovery and cleanup operations after at least one tornado struck the Village of Glenallen in Bollinger County in the early hours of April 5, 2023, may face hazards related to falls, downed power lines and sharp debris.

Employer locations:   Westheimer Car Wash LLC, 12810 Westheimer Road, Houston (Headquarters)

                                      Hobby Car Wash LLC, 7991 Bellfort Ave., Houston

                                      Cypress Car Wash LLC, 12702 Jones Road, Houston                    

                                      Cy Fair Car Wash LLC, 2030 S. Texas 6, Houston

Participant:   L.L. Bean Manufacturing Brunswick

Brunswick, Maine

Description:   L.L. Bean Manufacturing Brunswick employs about 200 workers at the Brunswick facility where they manufacture and assemble boots, dog beds and perform custom embroidery.

In the week ending April 1, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 228,000, a decrease of 18,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 48,000 from 198,000 to 246,000. The 4-week moving average was 237,750, a decrease of 4,250 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 43,750 from 198,250 to 242,000.

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $62,412 in back wages and damages for 20 workers after a federal court in Michigan supported the department’s findings that a Grand Rapids restaurant denied overtime wages to the workers and failed to pay minimum wage to one server.

DUNDEE, OH – An Ohio lathe mill has paid an enhanced child labor enforcement penalty of $22,093 after  federal investigators found the company employed a 15-year-old worker illegally in a hazardous occupation –the operation of a sawmill – which led the worker to suffer injury when he became entangled in the gears of a powered wood processing machine.