SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration found a Dudley contract packager failed to inform the agency as required that a temporary worker needed hospitalization after he sustained a serious injury on May 26, 2016. Even worse, the employer failed to contact emergency medical services immediately when the injury occurred.

Date of Action: Dec. 9, 2016

Type of Action: Lawsuit filed with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Administrative Law Judges 

Defendant(s): JBS USA Lux S.A.
Swift Beef Co.

State: Montana

Type of Award: National Dislocated Worker Grant

Award Amount Approved/Released: $225,000

Funding Awarded to: Montana Department of Labor and Industry

Number of Workers Served: Approximately 50

Date of Action: Dec. 9, 2016

Type of Action: Complaint

Name(s) of Defendant: Authorized Factory Service Inc.

Allegations: Based on an investigation conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration, the U.S. Secretary of Labor filed a complaint alleging:

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division has recovered $123,574 in back wages and damages for 22 underpaid workers at four Mozzarella’s and Fitzy’s Pub Family restaurants in southern New England. The employers also paid $4,114 in civil monetary penalties.

BUFFALO, N.Y. – The owner of three Buffalo-area gas stations has paid a total of $84,000 in back wages and damages to 41 employees after an investigation by the Buffalo area office of U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division.

Lakhwinder Gill – the owner of the Angola Food Mart Inc. (Angola), LHP Food Mart Inc. (Buffalo) and Lake Shore Mini Mart, Inc. (Hamburg) gas stations – will also pay $1,000 in civil monetary penalties.

Date of Action: Dec. 2, 2016

Type of Action: Complaint

Defendant(s): Matthew Kenneth Smith
Wind Turbine Solutions LLC
Wind Turbine Solutions LLC Retirement Trust

Employer: Six gas stations/convenience stores, all under common ownership, doing business as Arco AM/PM in the Sacramento, California area.

Sites: Lodi Oil Inc., 4931 N. Flag City Blvd, Lodi
Kamboj Oil Inc., 45 15^th St., West Sacramento
Wraich Petroleum Corp., 3921 Watt Avenue, Sacramento
Broadway Petroleum Inc., 2100 Broadway, Sacramento
Mehroke LLC, 902 Newville Road, Orlanda
Sacramento Petroleum Inc., 4745 Watt Avenue North Highlands

State: Maryland

Type of Award: National Dislocated Worker Grant supplemental

Supplemental Amount Approved: $414,912

Total Funds Awarded: $5,552,067

Funding Awarded to: Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation

Number of Workers Served: Approximately 545

Employer name: Mountaire Farms Inc.

Inspection site: 55 Hosier Street, Selbyville, Delaware

Corporate address: P.O. Box 1320, Millsboro, Delaware

MOSINEE, Wis. – A federal investigation, prompted by the death of a 51-year-old chemical technician at a coatings company’s facility in Mosinee, has resulted in multiple safety violations.

NEW YORK – A Queens-based operator of residential nursing homes and adult care facilities will pay a total of $2,006,796 in back wages and liquidated damages to 844 underpaid employees at five locations in eastern New York following a federal investigation of alleged violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Type of Action: Fair Labor Standards Act lawsuit filing

Defendant(s): Rinky Sharma
Bobby Singh
SkyExpress Travel Plaza Inc., doing business as Plaza 30
Sky Petroleum Inc., doing business as Govertown Travel Plaza and Michigan City Grocery
Aman Group LLC, dba Marathon Stop and Shop

Date of Action: Dec. 8, 2016

Type of Action: Employee Retirement Income Security Act lawsuit

Names of Defendants: Nicholas C. Caro
N.C. Caro M.D., S.C.
N.C. Caro M.D., S.C. Defined Benefit Plan

SALT LAKE CITY – A federal judge has ordered Brian Jessop and Paragon Contractors Corp., to make an initial payment of $200,000 to compensate hundreds of children who were employed illegally and not paid for their labor on a pecan ranch between 2008-2013. Jessop and Paragon coordinated with the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints to use children and others in the church for field work.

MELROSE PARK, Ill. – Just six weeks after a machine amputated a maintenance worker’s left hand as he cleared jammed material stuck in a machine at its Melrose Park bread products facility, the company reported a second worker’s right forearm suffered multiple fractures as he cleaned another machine. Federal safety inspectors investigating the injuries found, in both instances, the company allowed employees to service machinery without isolating operating parts, a process known as lockout/tagout.

MINNEAPOLIS – One of the nation’s leading financial planning companies discriminated in pay against black employees, an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs has found.

RIPON, Wis. – For the second time in less than two months, federal safety and health inspectors found an employee at one of world’s leading commercial laundry equipment manufacturers suffered an amputation injury because a machine lacked adequate safety guarding.

Employer’s name: CPE Feeds Inc.
2102 Lubbock Road
Brownfield, Texas

Citations issued: Nov. 28, 2016

WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez today announced the appointments of five new members to the 2017 Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans, known as the ERISA Advisory Council. He also announced the incoming chair and vice chair of the council.