Economic Policy Institute analysis reveals a 280% increase in workers engaged in major strikes

The U.S. Department of Labor has imposed fines on a maintenance and repair contractor based in Birmingham, Alabama, and a distributor of bulk cement based in Port Everglades, Florida, in connection with the death of a 39-year-old worker at a Fort Lauderdale job site. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) concluded after an investigation that the two contractors could have prevented the fatality by adhering to safety regulations and maintaining effective communication.

The U.S. Department of Labor's year-long investigation into Forge Industrial Staffing, originally prompted by allegations made in a New York Times article related to child labor, has yet to find evidence of violations at the company. Forge has cooperated with the department's investigation, except to provide the confidential client information - an action Forge says would deal significant damage to the company regardless of the inquiry's outcome.

Tufco LP, a Green Bay-based industry leader in the manufacturing of branded and industrial wet and dry wipe products, has been fined $194,000 for violating federal regulations. The violation pertains to an incident involving the amputation of an employee’s fingertips last summer. It was also discovered that the company neglected to report the incident as mandated by federal law.

A Korean restaurant based in Boston has been mandated to pay $320,000 in back wages following a finding by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division that it failed to inform some workers about their cash wage and tip credit. The department established that the restaurant was not adhering to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), with 59 current and former workers implicated in the dispute.

Employees working in businesses with less than 100 workers are significantly less likely to have an employer-provided retirement plan, despite the incentives available for small businesses to offer such plans. This issue is the focus of a research brief published by the Washington, D.C.-based Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI).

A collective of community nonprofits, children's advocacy organizations, and other interested parties are appealing to the Florida legislature to reject two bills that could potentially undermine the protections provided by the state's child labor law. The group contends that these rollbacks would escalate the health and safety risks faced by young workers in Florida.

Two former employees of two distinct Tennessee-based healthcare providers are set to receive $47,728 in back wages and liquidated damages in relation to the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). This decision follows an announcement by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) that their employers failed to notify them of their eligibility under the act. The DOL utilized its Wage and Hour Division investigators to scrutinize these cases.

President Biden has renominated Julie Su for the position of U.S. Secretary of Labor, despite opposition from Democrats due to her progressive past. As reported by the Federal Newswire, Su is the former California Labor Secretary.

For the second time in two years, a work-related death has occurred at a poultry processing plant in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) reported that a 16-year-old sanitation worker died after being pulled into a machine.

A Philadelphia home healthcare agency has been ordered by a federal court to pay approximately $1.6 million in overtime compensation, following a consent judgment. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) supported the measure after discovering that 288 employees of the company were deliberately denied overtime pay.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has declared that more than 208,000 gig workers are due at least $163 million in back pay. The announcement was made by Acting Secretary Julie Su via social media, where she also revealed the establishment of a website to help workers determine if they are owed back pay.

A Florida-based roofing contractor, All Phase Roofing, has been cited by the U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL) Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for three repeat violations concerning a lack of fall protection measures for their employees. The charges were revealed following an OSHA investigation, which resulted in fines totaling $159,117.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), a division of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), has accused Illinois-based roofing contractor, Miller Building Systems LLC, of breaching workplace safety regulations. The company, owned by Elmer Miller, has previously been fined over 20 times by the department. This time, the DOL alleges that the company exposed its employees to potential falls while they were engaged in a residential construction project in Savoy, Illinois.

The news media industry experienced significant job cuts in 2023, marking it as the worst year for the sector since the onset of COVID-19, according to a report by Poynter. The report suggests that the industry's downward spiral may not be nearing its end.

HBD Industries, an Ohio-based industrial rubber hose manufacturer, is once again facing scrutiny from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). The company's subsidiary, HBD/Thermoid Inc., which operates in Bellefontaine, has been cited by the DOL seven times since 2013.