U.S. Turns Up the Heat on Violators of Labor Laws

The Labor Department said Wednesday that it had stepped up efforts to prosecute businesses for violating labor laws and vowed to continue the crackdown as part of a larger effort to improve the lot of the American worker.

“The legitimate businesses in this country have an interest in making sure that the bad actors are vigorously prosecuted,” Labor Secretary Robert B. Reich said in a press conference called to outline his department’s accomplishments in 1993 and goals for 1994. “No good and responsible business in this country should have to compete with businesses that gain competitive advantages by violating labor law.”

Reich said such indictments against businesses had nearly doubled last year--from 42 to 78--and he cited numerous examples of successful prosecutions for a host of infractions, including violation of child-labor laws and safety regulations and failure to pay employees.

Chief among the successful enforcement actions for which he claimed credit were:

* A first-of-its-kind $600,000 settlement in a “glass-ceiling” case involving 52 female workers near the top of the pay scale who had sought promotions at Fairfax Hospital in Virginia.

* A record $16.2-million wage and child-labor law settlement with Food Lion supermarkets.

* An increase in indictments from 49 to 102 in connection with violations of health and welfare-benefits laws.

Reich also said his department was responsible for a 12% increase--to $34.5 million--in money paid to settle discrimination cases.

He said the enforcement efforts go hand-in-hand with other programs to retrain displaced workers, provide more job security and create higher-paying jobs.

Reich also listed several initiatives he hoped to begin this year, including creation of a series of job centers that would provide job counseling, job-search assistance and retraining.

Plans also are under way for a jobs summit in March, Reich said, in which representatives from the world’s seven largest industrial nations would gather in Washington to discuss ways to create new jobs.