WASHINGTON – The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement’s Interagency Labor Committee for Monitoring and Enforcement today requested a review by the Mexican government of the committee’s finding workers’ rights were denied at a Volkswagen assembly plant in Puebla, Mexico. 

The request follows an April 25, 2024, petition filed by 10 fired workers who allege Volkswagen Mexico violated the workers’ freedom of association and collective bargaining rights at the plant, the country’s largest and longest operating auto factory.

SAN FRANCISCO - Una investigación del Departamento de Trabajo de EE.UU. ha recuperado más de $450,000 en sueldos atrasados y compensación por daños para 62 personas empleadas en dos granjas de hongos de Half Moon Bay - donde un trabajador descontento disparó y mató a siete trabajadores migrantes en enero de 2023 - y ha impuesto multas después de que los investigadores descubrieran que los empleadores pagaban de menos a los trabajadores y los alojaron en viviendas inseguras.

WILLARD, OH – One of the world’s largest and best-known tool and equipment manufacturers could have prevented a 29-year-old maintenance electrician from suffering severe burns during an electrical arc blast at a company facility in Willard if required safety standards were followed, a U.S. Department of Labor investigation has found. 

CHARLESTON, WV – An investigation and litigation by the U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $175,000 in back wages from a Charleston coal mining company that laid off 44 Matewan miners and denied them a final paycheck while filing for bankruptcy.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor announced today that its Mine Safety and Health Administration completed impact inspections at 15 mines in 11 states in April 2024, issuing 247 violations and two safeguards. An inspector issued safeguards due to site-specific standards at underground coal mines to address safety hazards related to transportation of miners and materials in haulage ways. 

WASHINGTON – Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su today released the following statement on news of a final contract agreement between the United Steelworkers and Blue Bird Corp, one of the nation’s leading manufacturers of low- and zero-emission school buses.

LINDEN, NJ  – The U.S. Department of Labor has reached a settlement agreement with a New Jersey contractor after a worker suffered a fatal fall at a Bayonne worksite in October 2023. 

The settlement followed an inspection by the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration of Granite & Marble Services LLC of Linden after the Bayonne Police Department alerted the agency that a worker had suffered fatal injuries at a multi-unit residential building under construction.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the incremental award of $3,750,000 in funding to support continued disaster-relief employment and workforce training for eligible residents in Florida as the state continues to recover following Hurricane Ian. 

In the week ending May 18, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 215,000, a decrease of 8,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 222,000 to 223,000. The 4-week moving average was 219,750, an increase of 1,750 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 250 from 217,750 to 218,000.

PORTLAND, OR – After a two-day bench trial, the U.S. Department of Labor obtained a federal court judgment that orders the U.S. Postal Service to pay $141,307 in lost wages and damages for emotional distress suffered to a probationary mail carrier who the agency fired after they reported an on-the-job injury to their supervisor and filed an accident report. 

BOSTON – A federal court in Vermont has concluded that the First Amendment does not protect a Milton, Vermont, excavation contractor and its officials from using social media to retaliate against employees. The decision by the U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont is the latest action in ongoing litigation between the Department of Labor and Bevins & Son Inc.

WASHINGTON — El Departamento del Trabajo de los EE. UU. anunció hoy un acuerdo voluntario con el Departamento de Empleo de Oregon para reafirmar el compromiso de brindar un acceso significativo al programa de seguro de desempleo para las personas con dominio limitado del inglés.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor today announced a voluntary resolution agreement with the Employment Department of Oregon to reaffirm its commitment to provide meaningful access in its unemployment insurance program for people with limited English proficiency.

Employers:    Gordo Corp., operating as El Gordito, Belleville, Illinois

                        Patricia and Samuel Gonzalez Lara, owners

Action:           Complaint filing

Court:             U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois

Date of action:                      May 20, 2024

 Type of action:                     Consent judgment and order 

 Names of defendants:           P & B Heating & Air Conditioning Corp., West Babylon, New York; 

                                               Craig Napolitano; Robert Napolitano 

DECATUR, IL – The U.S. Department of Labor has entered into a conciliation agreement with Caterpillar Inc. to resolve alleged systemic hiring discrimination against 60 Black applicants at one of the heavy equipment manufacturer’s production facilities in Decatur, Illinois.

Employers:    MKK Holding Inc., operating as the Blue Fish Asian Cuisine, Dearborn, Michigan

                        Sung Hee Kim

                        Min Kyu Kim

                        Yong Kim                        

CHICAGO – Joshua Herion, a Waukegan roofing contractor who has routinely endangered employees by ignoring federal workplace standards and penalties assesses for its violations since 2014, has paid $365,576 in fines and interest, after the U.S. Department of Labor moved to seize the employer’s assets as part of the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration debt collection program.

Employer:      La Mojarra Loca Inc.

SAN FRANCISCO – A U.S. Department of Labor investigation has recovered more than $450,000 in back wages and damages for 62 people employed by two Half Moon Bay mushroom farms — where a disgruntled co-worker fatally shot seven migrant workers in January 2023 — and assessed penalties after investigators found the employers underpaid workers and provided unsafe housing conditions.