News and reports from the Department of Labor.

News Release: SIOUX FALLS, SD - Twice in seven days, federal workplace safety inspectors found a Sioux Falls contractor put workers at risk of being buried under thousands of pounds of soil while they worked in unprotected trenches at two locations in Tea and Salem.

News Release: ATLANTA - A call to the “Employment, Education and Outreach" hotline maintained by the U.S. Department of Labor led federal investigators to find a Baxley farm labor contractor - who violated several federal laws related to the employment of migrant and seasonal workers previously - had broken the law again, this time for missing a payroll.

News Release: DENVER - Following a 90-day outreach period, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration ’s Regional Emphasis Program for Noise Induced Hearing Loss will move into the enforcement phase beginning May 17, 2022. The emphasis program targets manufacturing industries with high rates of occupational hearing loss in Colorado, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota.

Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations (WANTO) Technical Assistance Grant Program grant opened on May 11.

News Release: (Washington, D.C.) - Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, took to the Senate floor to urge her colleagues to vote for the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA) to protect the right to abortion as the Supreme Court is set to overturn Roe v. Wade.

The U.S. Department of Labor shared its commitment to safeguarding workers’ wages by announcing new compliance assistance materials and a website during National Construction Safety Week, held May 2-6.

There was activity on four bills related to the Education and Labor Committee on May 10.

There was activity on two bills related to the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee on May 10.

News Release: ATLANTA─ The U.S. Department of Labor will hold an online listening session with Southeast employees, employers and other stakeholders on May 17, 2022, on possible revisions to the regulations that enforce the Fair Labor Standards Act’s minimum wage and overtime exemptions for executive, administrative and professional employees.

News Release: WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Labor today renewed partnerships with the governments of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras to strengthen collaboration with their U.S. embassies and consulates, and to provide information about laws governing workplace safety and health, wages and work hours, and other employment issues individuals from these countries face while working in the U.S.

News Release: (Washington, D.C.) - Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, released the following statement laying out a path forward after Senate Republicans blocked the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA) in a 49-51 vote.

News Release: BALTIMORE - A federal judge has ordered four interrelated Upper Marlboro providers of assisted living, adult day care and transportation services to pay $364,604 - $182,302 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages - to 132 workers after the U.S. Department of Labor found numerous pay practice infractions in a Wage and Hour Division investigation.

News Release: DENVER - Following a 90-day outreach period, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Regional Emphasis Program for Noise Induced Hearing Loss will move into the enforcement phase beginning May 17, 2022. The emphasis program targets manufacturing industries with high rates of occupational hearing loss in Colorado, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota.

News Release: CHARLESTON, SC - A Charleston restaurant shortchanged 92 workers by forcing them to participate in an illegal tip pool that included management and other typically non-tipped employees, which led to federal minimum wage and overtime violations, a U.S. Department of Labor investigation has revealed.

News Release: (Washington, D.C.) - Today, during a hearing she chaired, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, urged her colleagues to support the nomination of Kalpana Kotagal to be a member of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), highlighting her long record defending workers’ rights-and working to create fairer workplaces and equal opportunity for all workers.