A Denver-area food and paper products distributor has agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle a federal hiring-discrimination suit. The EEOC alleged that Mile Hi Foods turned away qualified Black, female and Afghan job applicants, a pattern it said dated to 2015. The agreement, announced Sept. 25, 2026, takes the form of a three-year consent…

Payroll deductions for health premiums and 401(k) contributions had to pass through one pooled account before reaching insurers and retirement plans, and prosecutors say that account is where the money left. James Vincent Campbell, 49, the Scottsdale, Arizona, chief executive of Axim Fringe Solutions Group, has pleaded guilty to theft from an employee benefit plan.…

A New York worker who takes up to 12 weeks of Paid Family Leave in 2027 could collect as much as $1,287.91 a week, the state’s new maximum. That is $59.38 more than the 2026 ceiling of $1,228.53. The higher figure applies to leave beginning on or after Jan. 1, 2027, and it is a…

Paycheck stubs in Maryland will carry a new line in January 2027: a deduction of 0.45% of wages for the state’s Family and Medical Leave Insurance program. In New York, the most a worker can pay toward Paid Family Leave in a year rises to $451.81 in 2027 from $411.91. The two programs are at…

Paid family and medical leave is available to 49% of private-sector workers, while 81% can take paid sick days, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The figures come from the agency’s March 2026 benefits survey, released Sept. 25, 2026. For a household weighing a new baby, a surgery or a parent’s decline, the difference…

Logistics company Exel Inc., which operates as DHL Supply Chain in the United States, has agreed to pay $80,000 to settle a federal lawsuit accusing it of denying a disability accommodation to a temporary employee and then excluding her from permanent hiring. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced the settlement this week following a case…

Mayo Clinic has agreed to pay $50,000 to settle a federal lawsuit accusing the health system of illegally denying a security guard’s request for a religious exemption from its COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The settlement, announced this week by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, closes a case that traces back to a vaccine policy Mayo put…

Federal agencies planning a staff reduction must now rank employees chiefly by job performance, not by years of service, under a final rule the Office of Personnel Management published in the Federal Register. The rule took effect September 2, 2026, and rewrites the order in which employees line up on an agency’s retention register once…

Restaurant workers at 13 Tropical Grille locations in upstate South Carolina have recovered $618,666 in back wages and tips after a U.S. Department of Labor investigation. The department announced on August 24, 2026, that the restaurant group paid the money to 779 employees after investigators found managers sharing in employee tip pools, overtime shortfalls for…

The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $732,976 in back wages for 31 workers at a Pompano Beach seafood buffet after finding the owner failed to pay minimum wage and overtime. The employer, Lucky King LLC, operates Miyako Japanese Buffet in Broward County. The department announced the recovery on September 3, 2026, saying most employees…