News and reports from the Department of Labor.

The U.S. Department of Labor announced today that its Wage and Hour Division will offer online seminars for contracting agencies, contractors, unions, workers and other stakeholders on the requirements for paying prevailing wages on federally funded construction and service contracts.

The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered more than $3.1 million in back wages and fringe benefits for more than 3,100 workers at a California subcontractor that provided enrollment and dental and vision benefits support to federal employees, retirees and their dependents.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division determined that the employer paid window installers overtime wages at straight-time rates, and denied workers the required rate of time-and-one-half for hours over 40 in a workweek.

Investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division found a North Carolina commercial and industrial rack installation company misclassified its employees working as installers as independent contractors.

A federal investigation has found the franchise operator of seven McDonald’s locations in Erie and Warren illegally allowed 154 minors, ages 14- and 15-years-old, to work at times not permitted by child labor laws and for more hours per week than allowed

The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $253,044 in back wages for 93 workers of four Florida restaurants after an investigation found the enterprise did not pay servers any wages and failed to pay other workers overtime rates.

A federal investigation has recovered $113,613 in back wages and liquidated damages for 71 employees of a New York City hotel management company that denied them their full-earned wages, including overtime, by misclassifying many of the affected workers as independent contractors.

Labor Department fines pizza restaurants $30K for child labor violations, recovers $12K for two managers illegally denied overtime wages

The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a federal court order requiring an Illinois home healthcare provider to pay 69 workers $1.1 million in back wages and damages for its failure to pay these workers for all hours worked.

U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigators found the operator of a chain of Jacksonville-area fast-food restaurants illegally kept a portion of employees’ tips, in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $20,107 in back wages for a Georgia bank employee who suffered wrongful retaliation and termination after the financial institution violated their rights under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act.

The U.S. Department of Labor, the IRS and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation today released Federal Register notices that announce changes to the 2023 Form 5500 Annual Return/Report of Employee Benefit Plan and Form 5500-SF Short Form.

As part of its year-long commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act, the U.S. Department of Labor today hosted an online roundtable discussion and launched a new web page to inform workers about federal regulations for job-protected leave to care for a family member.

A federal panel has affirmed that Walmart Inc. violated federal workplace safety standards at its warehouse in Johnstown, New York, when it failed to prevent stored merchandise from falling onto – and seriously injuring – an employee in 2017. The Feb. 9, 2023, decision by the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission found the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited the global discount retailer correctly for failing to meet the agency's safety standard for storage of material that requires that items stored in tiers must be stable and secure against sliding and collapse. The commission also ordered Walmart to correct the cited hazards within six months, given the physical changes the company must make at the warehouse to come into compliance with the standard. In affirming the citation, the commission rejected Walmart's defense that the storage racks were "standard in the industry," finding that even if true – which Walmart did not prove – its managers knew the racks posed a hazard to employees. In response to a report of a worker's injury on Feb. 25, 2017, OSHA investigators determined that the Walmart warehouse worker suffered long-term injury when their head and neck were struck by a package that fell from storage racks above. Inspectors learned another employee operating a forklift in an adjacent aisle inadvertently struck the pallet on which the merchandise was stacked. OSHA then issued Walmart Inc. a citation for violating the agency's standard for secure storage and proposed a $10,684 penalty. The commission's decision comes after Walmart challenged OSHA's findings, claiming the standard did not apply to the pallets Walmart used in its racking system. After several years of litigation, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit found the cited standard applied to Walmart and directed the commission to again review the matter. The retail giant now has 60 days to appeal the decision. Walmart operates about 10,500 stores and clubs under 46 banners in 24 countries and e-commerce websites. The company employs about 2.3 million people around the world, including nearly 1.6 million in the U.S.

Soon after federal workplace safety inspectors arrived at a Dollar Tree store in Mount Pleasant, Texas, they found the national discount retailer again shortchanging employee safety – continuing a pattern of disregard dating back to 2017 – by allowing storeroom merchandise to block exits and walkways and stacking boxes high enough to fall on workers.