News and reports from the Department of Labor.

News Release: WASHINGTON - Since 2018, the U.S. Department of Labor has seen a 69 percent increase in children being employed illegally by companies. In the last fiscal year, the department found 835 companies it investigated had employed more than 3,800 children in violation of labor laws. The maximum civil monetary penalty under current law for a child labor violation is $15,138 per child. That’s not high enough to be a deterrent for major profitable companies.

The U.S. Department of Labor, Internal Revenue Service and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation recently released notices announcing changes to the 2023 Form 5500 Annual Return/Report of Employee Benefit Plan and Form 5500-SF Short Form.

Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC), Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN), Rep. Michelle Steel (R-CA), and Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) sent a letter to U.S. Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to conduct oversight of the agency’s failure to investigate the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) for holding classified documents on a Biden-affiliated campus building. Specifically, the lawmakers raised concerns about UPenn’s involvement and whether its mishandling of such sensitive documents poses a national security threat.

Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) sent a letter to U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Marty Walsh to request that his office retain records to ensure DOL staff have the necessary materials to respond to the Committee’s oversight inquiries.

Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture expressing concerns with the agency’s proposed changes to the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program packages that limit families from accessing flexible and nutritious food options.

The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) is planning on releasing job creators’ confidential employee data to accommodate a FOIA request from a left-leaning organization. Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-NC) sent a letter to OFCCP Director Yang to lambast the agency’s imminent release of sensitive employee data that is normally protected.

Defendants used thousands of stolen identities to obtain over $2.4 million in fraudulent COVID-19 unemployment benefit

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that ANTHONY RICCARDI, an owner and manager of the Connecticut insurance firm Employee Benefit Solutions LLC (“EBS”), pled guilty today in White Plains federal court to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud.

A Search At The Defendant’s Residence Also Recovered Four “Ghost Guns,” Including One that Was Modified to be a Machinegun

Robert Clay Smith, age 61, an Alexandria, La., physician was sentenced yesterday to 48 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay more than $800,000 to workers’ compensation insurers, for his role in a conspiracy to commit wire fraud, health care fraud, and violations of federal anti-kickback laws.

A Woodbridge man pleaded guilty today to illegally obtaining pandemic unemployment benefits from the state of California.

A doctor who owns a medical clinic in Newark today admitted defrauding New Jersey state and local health benefits programs and other insurers by submitting fraudulent claims for medically unnecessary prescriptions, Attorney for the United States Vikas Khanna announced.

Abel Nazario-Quiñones, former Puerto Rico senator and former mayor of the municipality of Yauco, Puerto Rico, was sentenced by United States District Court Senior Judge Francisco A. Besosa to serve 18 months in prison, announced United States Attorney W. Stephen Muldrow.

A Georgia inmate who admitted he conducted a pandemic unemployment insurance fraud scheme from behind bars, which included using the personal identifiable information (PII) of other inmates, was sentenced to prison this week for his crime.

There were two notices published by the Labor Department in week ending Feb. 18, according to the Federal Register.