The U.S. Department of Labor has approved an initial $5 million in National Dislocated Worker Grant funds for the state of Tennessee to assist 12 counties with recovery efforts in wake of damage caused by remnants of Hurricane Helene.
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Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz awarded up to $126,000 in taxpayer funds to meat processor JBS after an investigation revealed some of the company’s processing plants were cleaned using child labor.
The U.S. Department of Labor found in February 2023 that at least 31 children were employed “in hazardous occupations to clean dangerous powered equipment during overnight shifts at JBS USA plants,” though they were employed by a third-party cleaning service rather than by JBS directly. Minnesota’s Office of Higher Education then announced a grant in June to fund job training for 28 staff members at the JBS plant in Worthington, Minnesota — a plant at which at least 22 children had been illegally employed to clean.
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Beacon Center has filed a lawsuit, on behalf of the Association of Christian Schools International, to fight a new U.S. Department of Labor overtime rule that would require anyone making less than $58,000 per year as an hourly, non-exempt employee.
The previous rule had that threshold at $35,568. The new rule is scheduled to go into effect Jan. 1 and includes a stipulation to increase the salary threshold every three years.
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As his administration ramped up its government giveaways in the midst of a pandemic and border crisis, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was warned his team did not have adequate protections for the taxpayer money it was sending out the door to nonprofit groups and workers.
In fact, auditors just last February reported they found “pervasive noncompliance” inside the Walz administration with grant management policies that were “signaling systemic issues regarding grants oversight.”
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A new bill would push back on the U.S. Department of Labor’s ability to regulate apprenticeships.
The “Apprenticeship Freedom Act” from House Freedom Caucus Chair Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., was obtained exclusively by The Center Square.
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The Nashville-based Beacon Center of Tennessee filed a lawsuit on behalf of two freelance journalists against the U.S. Department of Labor’s Independent Contractor Rule on Wednesday.
The think tank is representing Tennessee freelance journalists Margaret Littman and Jennifer Chesak in the suit, arguing that the department’s updated rule “threatens to destroy the livelihoods of freelancers” by “forcing freelancers into employment relationships that they neither want nor need.”
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A new U.S. Department of Labor regulatory effort could impact retirement plans by requiring them to monitor whether plan members access electronic communications, a cost that may be passed on to consumers.
Chair of the Education and the Workforce Committee, U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., sent a letter Thursday to the Employee Benefits Security Administration raising concerns about the federal agency’s Request for Information, a document suggesting the agency will add more regulatory burden onto retirement accounts.
More regulations could mean more fees and higher costs for some Americans with retirement plans.
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Virginia has given out $817.3 million in improper unemployment benefits over a three-year period.
The U.S. Department of Labor reported that 43.8% of the unemployment benefits paid out by the state from July 2019 through June 2022 were improper. Department of Labor reported a 21.52% national improper payment rate over the three-year period. Improper payments are payments that should not have been made or were made in the incorrect amount.
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Norfolk Southern has agreed to enhance safety measures for workers cleaning up the site of its February derailment and chemical spill in East Palestine, Ohio.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that the rail giant entered into an agreement with the federal government and the Teamsters’ rail maintenance worker division to enhance working conditions and crew training after federal inspectors discovered the company had broken a number of regulations, including not requiring or enforcing the use of protective gear.
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Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti has sent letters to ten major asset managers demanding information regarding how environmental, social, or governance (ESG) factors are incorporated into their investment decisions, according to Reuters.
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Governor Bill Lee signed a bill Wednesday that requires the Tennessee Treasurer to make investment decisions based on financial factors – not based on environmental, social, or governance (ESG) factors.
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Republican members of the Tennessee Congressional Delegation condemned President Joe Biden on Monday for using his first veto to shoot down legislation that would require pension fund managers to make investment decisions based on financial factors – not based on environmental, social, or governance (ESG) factors.
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Americans for Prosperity – Tennessee (AFP-TN) applauded the state Senate’s passing of a bill that requires the Tennessee Treasurer to make investment decisions based on financial factors – not based on environmental, social, or governance (ESG) factors.
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Teenagers in Ohio could be permitted to work until 9:00 p.m. on a school night if a bipartisan bill progressing through the Statehouse passes.
Senate Bill (SB) 251, sponsored by State Senators Tim Schaffer (R-Lancaster) and Tina Maharath (D-Columbus), aims to allow kids as young as 14 to work late during the school year if their parents give permission, to help with “staffing problems.”
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The U.S. Department of Labor accused an industrial cleaning company of employing minors for work at three slaughterhouses across the Midwest, including two in Minnesota.
A lawsuit filed in federal court last week claims Packers Sanitation Services Inc. (PSSI) employed at least 31 children between the ages of 13 and 17 to fulfill sanitation contracts at JBS USA plants in Grand Island, Nebraska, and Worthington, Minnesota, and a Turkey Valley Farms facility in Marshall, Minnesota.
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Reports indicate as much as $400 billion in COVID-19 unemployment relief were likely lost to waste and fraudsters. Lawmakers want answers.
Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Labor demanding documents and information related to the unemployment fraud.
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The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) obtained a federal court order to restrict an Alabama-based automotive parts manufacturer for Kia and Hyundai from employing children, many as young as 13, according to a recent DOL press release.
The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama ruled in a September consent judgment that the company, SL Alabama LLC, a subsidiary of South Korean SL Corporation, violated the Fair Labor Standards Act and engaged in “oppressive” labor practices, the release stated. The ruling follows an investigation by the Wage and Hour Division, and will effectively block SL Alabama LLC from shipping any products within 30 days of violations.
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The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $67,294 in unpaid wages for 29 workers after Akron, Ohio, based employer McNeil and NRM Inc. failed to pay them for two and a half months this year.
“Workers cannot be expected to bear the burden of the employer’s financial issues which, in this case, left them wondering if or when they would be paid,” Matthew Utley, director of the Wage and Hour Division District in Columbus, said in a statement, adding, “Any worker not getting paid should contact the Wage and Hour Division immediately.”
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The U.S. Department of Labor awarded the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency a $6.7 million grant to improve access to workers in underserved communities.
The grant aims to reach workers who have historically had difficulties applying for benefits, such as rural and urban areas with limited internet access and those with language barriers.
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America’s high schools have problems. Nearly twenty years ago, Bill Gates observed that the existing model is obsolete — that, even when high schools “work,” the results are too often mediocre. In 2016, The Education Trust found that 47 percent of high schoolers graduated prepared for neither college nor a career. In 2018, Gallup reported that two-thirds of high schoolers described themselves as wholly or partially disengaged. And, just last month, the National Center for Education Statistics concluded that high schools are plagued by grade inflation: Over the past decade, grades have risen to a record high even as math and science performance by 12th graders has edged down.
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Unemployment is slowly recovering in Connecticut, according to a new report from the U.S. Department of Labor.
In its latest Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims report, there was an increase in 18,000 initial claims filed throughout the country for the week ending April 9, with a total of 185,000 claims. The four-week moving average for the number of claims filed was set at 172,250, which was adjusted by 2,000 from the previous week’s number.
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Despite the surge in the new COVID-19 Omicron variant that is especially prominent in Florida, the number of new unemployment claims during the week that ended on December 25th was the lowest since before the pandemic during the same time period in 2019.
According to a news release by the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) on Thursday, the number of initial unemployment claims in Florida for that week was only 3,982 – down 1,178 from 5,160 the week before.
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The four-week average number of Florida jobless claims reached its lowest mark since before the COVID-19 pandemic. The U.S. Department of Labor (USDL) released the information on Wednesday.
The data reflected 5,343 first-time unemployment claims filed in Florida during the week that ended Nov. 20, which dropped the four-week average to 6,045 claims.
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Federal attorneys for the Biden administration filed a document Friday evening requesting the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeal to reject a potential hold on the rule issued by Biden that would mandate employees of businesses of 100 or more people to receive the COVID-19 vaccine or be regularly tested and forced to wear a mask.
The hold on Biden’s employee vaccine rule was requested by Florida, Alabama, and Georgia who argue that the rule, established under the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), oversteps its authority and would result in thousands of people losing their jobs.
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Emails show that in May 2020, the federal government warned Michigan’s Unemployment Insurance (UIA) about its lax jobless aid qualification questions. Despite a second warning as early as Jan. 6, 2021, the UIA still didn’t fix its mistakes.
The unheeded warnings are now costing nearly 600,000 Michiganders stress as well as potentially thousands of dollars to repay Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits erroneously paid out.
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A former Florida Senator and Democrat, José Javier Rodriguez, was nominated by President Joe Biden for Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training Administration (ETA) for the U.S. Department of Labor.
Rodriquez served as a member of the Florida House of Representatives from 2012 to 2016, and served on the Florida Senate from 2016 to 2020, representing Districts 112 and 37 respectively.
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The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) reported a decrease in unemployment claims in Florida for the week that ended June 26th, the last day jobless Floridians were able to receive federal unemployment assistance.
Data released Thursday by the DOL shows 6,086 new claims for that week, a decrease of 7,667 claims from the week that ended on June 19th.
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The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) reported the lowest number of initial unemployment claims in Florida since the week that ended March 14th, 2020.
According to the DOL, the week that ended June 5th recorded an estimated 5,800 initial unemployment claims, which is down from a revised number of 8,257 claims from the week before.
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Governor DeSantis lifted the COVID-19 restrictions in the state of Florida and industries look to begin returning back to normalcy starting with the issue regarding unemployment claims. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, for the week that ended May 1st, 2020, there were approximately 18,355 first-time unemployment claims in Florida and 116,304 unemployment claims by individuals who had already filed an initial unemployment claim, also known as insured claims.
The 18,355 initial unemployment claims from that week is a 9,662 decrease from the 28,017 initial claims from the week before and the number of insured claims decreased from 129,628 in that same week. The decrease in new claims reflects the national number of new claims during that week which was 498,000, a decrease of 92,000 from the prior week and the lowest number of initial claims since March 14th, 2020 when the number of new claims was only 256,000.
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Scammers took nearly all of the $330 million in reported improper payments the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services made with Pandemic Unemployment Assistance funds, Director Kimberly Henderson said earlier this month. That amount was funneled, in part, through 56,000 fake claims which were identified in December. There were also overpayments on legitimate claims.
But there may be more fraud – much more – that is not yet reported.
Whether the $330 million is from misappropriation that happened in December alone, or is a pile of results spanning several months, is unknown. Henderson said total losses will likely be pinpointed at the end of February.
“They should be able to pinpoint the amount weekly, or monthly,” said Ohio State Representative Derek Merrin (R-Monclova). He continued, “we need to get checks and balances in place to ensure money isn’t stolen in the first place.”
One Ohio State Senator told The Ohio Star the Director has signaled to him that the amount of money lost in ODJFS processing is likely in the ballpark of $1B.
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Approximately 20,000 Virginians who have been relying on extended unemployment benefits over the last several months amidst the coronavirus pandemic will no longer receive those payments come Saturday.
The Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) announced Wednesday that it has been notified by the U.S. Department of Labor that the Extended Benefits Program in Virginia will end on November 21.
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Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) introduced a bill last week that would create a “job guarantee program” at the U.S. Department of Labor.
The Workforce Promotion and Access Act, sponsored by Omar and Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ-12), seeks to get more Americans “back to work in living-wage jobs created directly by the federal government.”
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The U.S. Department of Labor has fined the Scott County Sheriffs’ Department more than $12,000 for not properly paying employees, and that means taxpayers will have to pay up.
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