Author: admin

WASHINGTON – Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su hosted an unveiling of the U.S. Department of Labor’s AI Best Practices, a comprehensive roadmap designed to ensure artificial intelligence enhances job quality and safeguards workers’ rights and well-being. The online event, which took place on Oct. 16, 2024, brought together labor, business, non-profit and government leaders to focus on the critical importance of ethical use of AI as its impact continues to grow in workplaces throughout the nation. President Biden’s Executive Order on the Safe, Secure and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence emphasizes that the responsible development and use of…

Read More

WHITTIER, CA – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $158,868 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages from a Southern California residential care provider that refused to pay overtime to 45 workers, some of whom worked up to 70 hours per week.An investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division found PALS LLC – a residential care provider for individuals with special needs and developmental disabilities – purposely failed to pay caregivers overtime rates when they worked more than 40 hours in a workweek. Investigators discovered some employees worked between 50 and 70 hours per week. Investigators also found the…

Read More

Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights Uzra Zeya traveled to Kyiv, Ukraine, on October 18, 2024. While in Kyiv, Under Secretary Zeya underscored unwavering U.S. solidarity to Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration and Minister of Justice Olha Stefanishyna, Minister of Veterans Affairs Natalia Kalmykova, leadership of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, Chief Justice of the High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Oleksiy Sergeyev, and First Deputy Chief of the National Police Maksym Tsutskeridze.  She also met with investigative journalists, humanitarian workers, veterans,…

Read More

BRAINTREE, MA – A federal workplace safety investigation has found the operator of three Massachusetts waterproofing contracting companies could have prevented an employee from suffering fatal injuries in February 2024 when part of a foundation broke and fell on the worker in a 5-to-6-foot-deep trench beneath the foundation of a Hanson residence.The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration found the employer, Aleckssandro Tomaz Pereira of Woburn – operating as Boston Concrete Corp LLC, VMT Contractor LLC and Boston Concrete and Remodeling LLC – exposed employees to cave-in, caught-between and structural collapse hazards by failing to protect the trench and…

Read More

The United States hosted Finland for a dialogue on the Indo-Pacific October 11 in Washington, D.C. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and Finnish State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Jukka Salovaara co-chaired the dialogue. The U.S. delegation included senior government officials from the Department of State, the National Security Council, and the Department of Defense. The United States and Finland discussed joint priorities to advance a free and open Indo-Pacific, including upholding international law and freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, and enhancing maritime and security cooperation in the Indo-Pacific.…

Read More

WASHINGTON – The Department of Labor will hold its next meeting of the 2024 Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans, also known as the ERISA Advisory Council, on Oct. 22. Open to the public, the online meeting is also accessible via teleconference.At the meeting, the council will discuss potential recommendations for the Secretary of Labor on the two 2024 study topics, “Making Welfare Plan Claims and Appeals Procedures More Accessible to Participants” and “Lifetime Income and Qualified Defined Investment Alternatives.”Established by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, the ERISA Advisory Council advises the Secretary of Labor and submits recommendations regarding the Secretary’s…

Read More

Estonia became the 45th signatory to the Artemis Accords in Milan, Italy on October 13.  The United States welcomes Estonia into the Artemis Accords as we strengthen our collaboration to ensure the sustainable use of space. Errki Keldo, Minister of Economy and Industry in the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications (MEAC), signed on behalf of Estonia in the presence of MEAC Director of EU and International Affairs Silver Tammik, MEAC Head of Space Policy Paul Liias, Estonian Ambassador to Italy Lauri Bambus, President of the Canadian Space Agency Lisa Campbell, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Rahima Kandahari, and NASA…

Read More

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today awarded $800,000 to the Kansas Local Area I Workforce Investment Board, also known as Kansas WorkforceONE, to support employment and training services for people affected by multiple layoffs and closures between January 2024 and June 2024. The department’s Employment and Training Administration oversees the award, which is the first increment of a National Dislocated Worker Grant of up to $2,072,227 that will allow Kansas WorkforceONE to provide retraining and skills development for dislocated workers seeking assistance in the 62 counties located in its service area. Supported by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014, National Dislocated…

Read More

Unanimously adopting, under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, resolution 2752 (2024) the 15-member Council determined that the situation in Haiti continues to constitute a threat to international peace and security in the region. The resolution emphasises the continuation of sanctions measures originally imposed in earlier resolutions to prevent the supply of weapons and military equipment to gangs operating in Haiti. The island nation is mired in a complex humanitarian crisis, driven primarily by rampant violence by armed criminal gangs, against a backdrop of severe disasters and economic crisis. Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced from their homes,…

Read More

“That’s why I have written directly to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to express profound concern about draft legislation that could prevent UNRWA from continuing its essential work in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” he said at the Security Council stakeout in New York. He said such a measure would suffocate efforts to ease suffering and tensions in Gaza and the entire Occupied Palestinian Territory, warning that “it would be a catastrophe in what is already an unmitigated disaster.” UNRWA’s integral role in humanitarian response UNRWA was established more than 70 years ago and supports Palestine refugees in five locations across…

Read More