Labor Department News Releases Update

B and D Contracting Inc., a labor recruiting and staffing agency that caters to oil field services and maritime fabrication facilities along the Gulf Coast, has agreed to pay $1,660,438 in back wages to 1,543 current and former employees. An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor found that the company engaged in improper pay and record-keeping practices that resulted in employees being denied overtime compensation in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The employees were assigned to client work sites throughout Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama to work as welders, pipe fitters and shipfitters.

In the week ending July 5, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 304,000, a decrease of 11,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 315,000. The 4-week moving average was 311,500, a decrease of 3,500 from the previous week's unrevised average of 315,000.

U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez today issued the following statement regarding Congressional approval of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act: