# DOL Wage & Hour Violations Feed: Employers, Back Wages (`thoob/dol-whd-violations-feed`) Actor

Clean, flat employer-level wage-and-hour violation records from the official US DOL WHD enforcement dataset, with back wages, civil penalties, employees affected, NAICS, and a what-changed-since-last-run mode. Billed only per delivered record. No API key needed.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/thoob/dol-whd-violations-feed.md
- **Developed by:** [Pono Data](https://apify.com/thoob) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$8.00 / 1,000 violation records

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## DOL Wage and Hour Violations Feed

Clean, flat employer-level wage-and-hour violation records from the official US Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division (WHD) enforcement dataset. Filter by state, industry (NAICS), and back-wage amount, get one useful row per concluded case, and run a changes-only mode that returns just what is new or updated since your last run.

You pay only for a delivered case record. Filtered-out rows, unchanged rows in changes mode, and malformed records cost nothing.

### What a record is

One flat row per concluded WHD compliance action, pulled from the raw DOL case row:

- employer: `employerName`, `employerLegalName`, `streetAddress`, `city`, `state`, `zipCode`
- industry: `naicsCode`, `naicsDescription`
- outcome totals: `violationCount`, `employeesInViolation`, `backWagesAmount`, `employeesDueBackWages`, `civilPenaltiesAmount`
- case period: `findingsStartDate`, `findingsEndDate`
- flags: `flsaRepeatViolator` (R, W, or RW), `childLaborViolations`, `minorsInViolation`
- by statute: `violationsByStatute`, one entry per statute that actually had a violation on the case (FLSA, SCA, H-2A, FMLA, Davis-Bacon, and the rest), each with its own count, back wages, employees, and penalties
- provenance: `sourceUrl`, `retrievedAt`, `confidence`, `jurisdiction`, `dataSource`, and in changes mode `changeType`

Every value appears verbatim in the WHD case record. Nothing is guessed. A statute with no violation on the case is left out, not written as a zero.

### Sample output

A real slice, restaurant and farm cases with back wages owed (illustrative):

| caseId | employerName | state | naicsDescription | violationCount | backWagesAmount | sourceUrl |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1769409 | Cedar Diner LLC | TX | Full-Service Restaurants | 9 | 18250 | enforcedata.dol.gov/views/data\_summary.php?id=1769409 |
| 1801222 | Valley Farms Inc | CA | All Other Misc Crop Farming | 4 | 51000 | enforcedata.dol.gov/views/data\_summary.php?id=1801222 |

### Two modes

- **full**: every case matching your filter.
- **changes**: only cases that are new, or whose record was re-loaded by DOL or whose headline figures changed since this account's last run. The state is tracked per account in a named store, so it is your timeline. The first changes run has no baseline, so it returns everything matching once, then tracks deltas from there.

### Filters

- **states**: keep only employers in these states (two-letter codes).
- **naicsPrefixes**: keep only employers whose NAICS code starts with one of these prefixes.
- **minBackWages**: keep only cases with at least this much in total back wages.
- **violationsOnly**: drop concluded cases that closed with no violation found.
- **sortBy** and **sortDir**: order the results server-side by a raw DOL column.
- **maxRecords**: a cap on how many records a run delivers and bills. 0 means no cap; the platform spend cap is honored regardless.

### What you need

The DOL enforcement API requires a free API key. Get one in a minute at https://dataportal.dol.gov/registration and pass it as the `apiKey` input, or set it as the `DOL_API_KEY` environment variable. The key is yours and free; this actor never ships one. With no key, the run exits cleanly and bills nothing.

### What to expect

- The WHD enforcement dataset holds every concluded WHD compliance action since fiscal year 2005, refreshed quarterly. A filter narrows that to the slice you care about.
- The raw API is public and free directly from the Department of Labor. What this actor sells is the flat, joined record, the per-statute breakdown, the state, industry and back-wage filtering, and the per-account change feed, so you do not have to walk the 100-column raw row or diff it yourself.
- A state or industry watch is a few dollars; a quarterly changes feed is pennies a run.

### Source and scope

- Source: the official US DOL Enforcement Data API v4, WHD `enforcement` dataset (`apiprod.dol.gov`), a public US government dataset, paged with a declared identifying User-Agent over a standard HTTP client.
- These are public federal labor-enforcement records about employers (business-level), not consumers. No personal contact data, no consumer profiling.
- Scope: United States only. Every row carries `jurisdiction=US`.
- This is a data tool, not legal advice. A WHD case record is an enforcement record, not a legal conclusion you should act on without checking the source.

### Who uses it

Labor-compliance teams tracking an industry or competitor set, insurers pricing employment-practices risk, M\&A due-diligence on a target's labor history, and journalists. The `sourceUrl` on every row points back to the DOL record so any finding can be verified.

### See also

More clean, pay-only-for-results data tools from Pono Data:

- [Regulatory Change Monitor](https://apify.com/thoob/regulatory-change-monitor) - federal rulemaking from the Federal Register
- [FDA Food Recall and Enforcement Alerts](https://apify.com/thoob/fda-food-recall-feed) - US food recalls and enforcement reports

Full catalog: https://apify.com/thoob

# Actor input Schema

## `apiKey` (type: `string`):

Your free DOL Open Data Portal API key. Get one in a minute at https://dataportal.dol.gov/registration . The DOL enforcement API requires it. You can also set it as the DOL\_API\_KEY environment variable instead.

## `states` (type: `array`):

Keep only cases whose employer is in these US states (two-letter codes, for example CA, TX, NY). Filtered on the returned record. Leave empty for all states.

## `naicsPrefixes` (type: `array`):

Keep only cases whose employer NAICS industry code starts with one of these prefixes (for example 72 for accommodation and food services, 23 for construction). Leave empty for all industries.

## `minBackWages` (type: `integer`):

Keep only cases with at least this much in total back wages agreed to pay (US dollars). 0 means no minimum.

## `violationsOnly` (type: `boolean`):

When on, keep only cases where at least one violation was found. A concluded WHD case can close with zero violations; turn this on to drop those.

## `mode` (type: `string`):

full returns every case matching your filter. changes returns only cases that are new, or whose record was re-loaded or whose headline figures changed since this account's last run, tracked per account. The first changes run has no baseline, so it returns everything matching once, then tracks deltas.

## `sortBy` (type: `string`):

Optional raw DOL column to sort by server-side (for example findings\_start\_date, bw\_atp\_amt, cmp\_assd). Combined with sort direction. Leave empty for the API default order. Newest-first is a common choice with findings\_start\_date and descending.

## `sortDir` (type: `string`):

Direction for sortBy. Ignored when no sort field is set.

## `maxRecords` (type: `integer`):

Safety cap on how many cases this run delivers and bills. Defaults to 1000 so a first run stays quick and cheap; raise it for a full pull, or set 0 for no cap. In changes mode, cases beyond the cap are not dropped: they are delivered on a later run, never billed twice. The platform spend cap (ACTOR\_MAX\_TOTAL\_CHARGE\_USD) is honored regardless.

## `pageSize` (type: `integer`):

How many cases to request per API page (1 to 1000). Larger pages are fewer requests; the default is a polite middle.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "states": [],
  "naicsPrefixes": [],
  "minBackWages": 0,
  "violationsOnly": false,
  "mode": "full",
  "sortDir": "desc",
  "maxRecords": 1000,
  "pageSize": 100
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `violations` (type: `string`):

One row per WHD enforcement case matching your filter.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "states": [],
    "naicsPrefixes": []
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("thoob/dol-whd-violations-feed").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "states": [],
    "naicsPrefixes": [],
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("thoob/dol-whd-violations-feed").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "states": [],
  "naicsPrefixes": []
}' |
apify call thoob/dol-whd-violations-feed --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=thoob/dol-whd-violations-feed",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/pKW3pTAPkY38ZQsrr/builds/J3Rsviz0wbD0ucA5e/openapi.json