WASHINGTON – In one of the largest wage violation settlements ever reached for U.S. poultry workers, a federal court in Los Angeles has entered a consent judgment that orders Fu Qian Chen Lu, Bruce Shu Hua Lok and others as owners and operators of a network of California poultry processors and distributors to pay $4.8 million in back wages and damages to 476 workers and $221,919 in penalties after a U.S. Department of Labor investigation. 

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Departments of Labor and Treasury today announced a new data-sharing partnership, the latest effort to support a multi-layered approach to fraud prevention by providing states with controls, tools and strategies to identify and combat unemployment insurance fraud. 

PALMETTO, FL – A subsidiary of one of the nation’s largest food service distributors has entered into a conciliation agreement with the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs and will pay $133,625 in back wages and interest to resolve alleged hiring discrimination by Sysco West Coast Florida Inc. at its Palmetto facility against 95 female applicants for outbound selector positions.  

BRAINTREE, MA – The U.S. Department of Labor has determined an East Boston window cleaning company’s failure to inspect and replace damaged or defective equipment contributed to an employee’s fatal 29-story fall from a building in downtown Boston’s financial district in October 2023.

WASHINGTON – The Department of Labor today announced the award of $98 million in grants to 72 organizations in 30 states and Guam to provide training and employment services in an ongoing effort to expand access to apprenticeship opportunities, prepare young workers for quality jobs and strengthen the nation’s workforce to meet industry demands. 

In the week ending April 27, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 208,000, unchanged from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 207,000 to 208,000. The 4-week moving average was 210,000, a decrease of 3,500 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 250 from 213,250 to 213,500.

Department of Labor recovers $538K in back wages, damages from Maryland residential rehabilitation provider for 37 landscaping workers denied full pay

Employer:                  

Divine Connect Care Inc.

Location:                    

3311 Toledo Terrace

Hyattsville, MD 20782

Investigation findings:   

 NEW ORLEANS – While people employed in the home care industry are among the nation’s lowest paid workers and are routinely expected to work long hours to help those in need, these workers are too often shortchanged by their employers’ unfair and illegal pay practices. 

NORTH CHARLESTON, SC – A major East Coast ship repair and servicing company’s failure to make safety its #1 priority, a promise made on its website, has led to another employee fatality — the fourth in five years — a U.S. Department of Labor workplace safety inspection has found.   

HARTFORD, CT – A federal workplace safety investigation following the death of a licensed practical nurse during an Oct. 28, 2023, home visit in Willimantic, Connecticut, found one of the nation’s largest home-based care providers did not provide adequate safeguards to protect the nurse, Joyce Grayson, and other employees from the dangers of workplace violence. 

ARCADIA, FL – A Georgia construction contractor’s failure to enforce safety regulations at an Arcadia worksite led to a 31-year-old steel erector suffering fatal fall injuries, an incident caused by the same workplace safety violations for which federal inspectors cited the employer just 10 months earlier.

WASHINGTON – The Department of Labor today announced the Advisory Board on Toxic Substances and Worker Health for Part E of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act will hold an online meeting from May 8-9, 2024, in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Meetings are open to the public.

The act provides compensation and medical benefits to nuclear weapons workers diagnosed with medical conditions caused by their exposure to toxic substances at covered nuclear facilities.

WASHINGTON – The Department of Labor today announced the availability of $6.5 million in grants to help organizations improve their delivery of safe and sanitary housing solutions for migrant and seasonal farmworkers and their dependents.

AMARILLO, TX – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $52,497 in back wages for 134 workers with disabilities after an Amarillo nonprofit – which provides rehabilitation and vocational training services to adults with developmental and physical disabilities – failed to pay them the required subminimum wage rate.

RALEIGH, NC – The Department of Labor is encouraging employers and stakeholders in North Carolina’s highway construction industry to participate in a statewide survey to help its Wage and Hour Division establish prevailing wage rates for construction workers on federally funded and assisted construction projects.

The Davis-Bacon and Related Acts require the department to set the prevailing wage rates that reflect the actual wages and fringe benefits paid to construction workers in the county where the work occurs. 

WASHINGTON – The Department of Labor will host an information session in Overland Park, Kansas, on May 8, 2024, for current and former nuclear weapons workers and their families employed at covered facilities on the benefits available under the federal Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act. 

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor announced today that its Mine Safety and Health Administration completed impact inspections at 14 mines in 11 states in March 2024, issuing 199 violations and one safeguard.

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

WASHINGTON – The Department of Labor today announced that its Employee Benefits Security Administration issued a final rule that will reinforce critical healthcare protections for consumers in plans offered by small employers or available for purchase on the individual market.

Employer:      Alumatech Furniture Manufacturing Inc. 

6063 17th St. 

East Bradenton, FL 34203

WASHINGTON – The Department of Labor today announced a final rule to strengthen protections for farmworkers. The rule targets vulnerability and abuses experienced by workers under the H-2A program that undermine fair labor standards for all farmworkers in the U.S.