Type of Action: Fair Labor Standards Act lawsuit filing 

Name of Defendants: Austin Electric Services LLC
Toby Thomas

Employer name: U.S. Postal Service LLC, doing business as Silver Spring MPO Carr Annex Hotel

Inspection site: 8827 Monard Drive, Silver Spring, Maryland       

Citations issued: On Aug. 1, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued one other-than-serious violation and five repeated violations to the company.

BELLEVILLE, Ill. ‒ Illinois contractor Robert Barringer III’s long history of putting his workers in danger of debilitating or fatal falls at his company’s job sites continues, this time at a residential home under construction in Glen Carbon.

SAN FRANCISCO – The U.S. Department of Labor is launching a new pilot process in its Western region. The “Expedited Case Processing Pilot” allows a complainant covered by certain statutes to ask the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration to cease its investigation and issue findings for the department’s Office of Administrative Law Judges to consider.

DALLAS – A gruesome employee injury led federal workplace safety inspectors to discover the nation’s largest meat and poultry processor endangered workers by exposing them to amputation hazards, high levels of carbon dioxide and peracetic acid without providing personal protective equipment. 

Employer name: Oprandy’s Fire & Safety Equipment Inc.
49 Brookline Ave.
Middletown, New York

The company sells installs and services fire extinguishers and suppression equipment. 

Inspection site: 49 Brookline Ave., Middletown, New York

What prompted OSHA’s inspection: Two employees were injured severely on Feb. 12, 2016, when a  compressed gas cylinder designed for a fire-suppression system exploded while they were attempting to fill it with compressed air from a high-pressure source.

Employer name: Furia Roofing Co. Inc., 2 Monhegan St., Clifton, New Jersey

Inspection site: 699 Route 46 East, Teterboro, New Jersey         

Citations issued: On Aug. 1, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued citations for one repeat and three serious violations.

Date of Action: July 15, 2016

Type of Action: Default judgment

Name of Defendant(s): Sommet Group LLC
L. Brian Whitfield
D. Edwin Todd
Sommet Group LLC Employee Benefit Plan

NEWARK, Ill. – For the second time in two years, federal safety inspectors found workers risking amputations and other serious injuries as they fed parts by hand into an unguarded mechanical press brake at an Illinois trailer manufacturing plant. They also found the company failed to protect welders and other employees from harmful ray emissions during welding operations.

ARLINGTON, Va. – Mine drill operators face their share of on-the-job risks. Failing to follow safe drilling practices can lead to fatal outcomes, as has been the case in recent years. In April 2014, a 53-year-old miner died in an underground gold mine in Elko County, Nevada, after his clothing caught in a jackleg drill.

BUCKHANNON, W.Va. – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division has revoked a West Virginia nonprofit’s ability to pay less than the current federal minimum wage to workers with disabilities after federal investigations found the organization violated provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act and McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act.

In the week ending August 6, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 266,000, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised down by 2,000 from 269,000 to 267,000. The 4-week moving average was 262,750, an increase of 3,000 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised down by 500 from 260,250 to 259,750.

Type of Action: Fair Labor Standards Act lawsuit filing

Name of Defendants: West Coast Drywall & Company Inc.
Mark D. Herbert
Santos Garcia

Date of Action: Aug. 5, 2016

Type of Action: Consent order entered into court

Name(s) of Defendant(s): Howard C. Lapensohn

Allegations: An investigation conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration found:

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau today awarded $1.1 million in grants to research and analyze how paid-leave programs can be developed and implemented across the country. The grants build on the Paid Leave Analysis Grant Program that, since 2014, has committed more than $3 million to 17 states and municipalities to support research and analysis on the implementation of paid family and medical-leave programs.

Employer name: Mattocks Five Inc., doing business as Albion Mill

Inspection site: 73 Canal St., Albion, Pennsylvania

Employer name: Liberty Master, Inc., 903 Curtis Lane, Scranton, Pennsylvania

Inspection site: 1735 Mulberry Way, Yardley, Pennsylvania          

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – An Overland Park flooring company that misclassified installers as independent contractors will pay 22 workers a total of $159,144 – representing $79,572 in back wages plus an equal amount in liquidated damages – after a U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigation.

ANDOVER, Mass.  – Dorchester-based contractor Roof Kings LLC exposed employees to life-threatening falls – more than 45 feet off the ground – over a three-day period as they worked at a Haverhill church, federal workplace safety and health inspectors found.

Employer name: U.S. Postal Service
8182 State Road 56
West Baden Springs, Indiana

Citations issued: July 29, 2016