State: Iowa

Type of Award: National Dislocated Worker Grant

Incremental Amount Awarded: $518,643

Total Funds Awarded to Date: $1,037,286

Funding Awarded to: Iowa Workforce Development

Number of Workers Served: Approximately 650

ARLINGTON, Va. – A federal rule to protect the nation’s miners from exposure to dangerous levels of coal mine dust is having a significantly positive impact in Phase II, a recent sampling by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration shows.

Employer name: Evraz Inc. NA

Worksite: 1612 E. Abriendo Ave., Pueblo, Colorado 81004

Citations issued: July 15, 2016

AVENTURA, Fla. – A federal workplace safety inspection of the Macy’s department store in Aventura by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration found employees at risk due to repeated and serious violations related to blocked exits, improper housekeeping and electric shock hazards.

Employer: Recyc-Mattress Corp., 12 Eastern Park Road
East Hartford, Connecticut, a mattress recycler.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez today issued the following statement in response to the introduction of the Overtime Reform and Enhancement Act. The proposed legislation would delay implementation of the department’s final rule updating overtime protections for millions of U.S. workers:

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration is soliciting nominations to fill five, three-year vacancies on the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans, also known as the ERISA Advisory Council. The deadline to submit nominations is Aug 1.

Employer name: Materion Brush Inc.
Elmore, Ohio

Citations issued: July 13, 2016

Investigation findings: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued one willful safety violation to Materion Brush after a worker had three fingers fractured when his right hand became caught in a pinch point as he operated a metal coiler.

State: West Virginia

Type of Award: National Dislocated Worker Grant

Award Amount Approved/Released: $3,500,000

Funding Awarded to: Workforce West Virginia

Number of Workers Served: Approximately 250

Employer name: Bennett Heat Treating and Brazing Co. Inc.

Inspection site: 690 Ferry St., Newark, New Jersey 

NEW YORK – Thirty-one workers employed on the federally funded cobblestone reconstruction project on Manhattan’s Peck Slip will receive $431,715 in back wages and interest following an investigation and litigation by the U.S. Department of Labor.

Employer name:James T. Lynch Construction Co. Inc.,
77 Lowell Junction Road, Andover, Massachusetts, a water and sewer line contractor.

Inspection site: Stoneham Crossing Apartments construction site, 225 Fallon Road, Stoneham

In the week ending July 9, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 254,000, unchanged from the previous week's unrevised level of 254,000. The 4-week moving average was 259,000, a decrease of 5,750 from the previous week's unrevised average of 264,750.

PHILADELPHIA – An alarming series of tragic – and preventable – incidents in the greater Philadelphia area is prompting the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration to call on the region’s construction companies to ensure that their employees have and use proper equipment when required to protect them from work-related falls.

QUEENSBURY, N.Y. – Federal workplace safety and health inspectors have cited a Queensbury manufacturer for exposing employees to uncorrected explosion hazards, as well as recurring fire and fall hazards.

BOSTON – Employees at United Plastics manufacturing plants in Leominster, Massachusetts, and Sardis, Mississippi, will receive a total of $1,433,618 in back wages and liquidated damages as part of a consent judgment and order obtained in federal court by the U.S. Department of Labor.

BIGLERVILLE, Pa. – For more than two months, a worker at a Pennsylvania pallet company repeatedly told her employer about health concerns related to mold exposure at a Biglerville plant. Despite confirming that the mold existed, IFCO Services N.A. Inc. did not remove the fungus and instead fired the woman less than three weeks after she complained again about her health concerns.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation are seeking public comments on proposed revisions to modernize and improve the Form 5500 Annual Return/Report filed by private-sector employee benefit plans.

Employers names: Exterran Energy Solutions LP
South Texas Specialty Welders LLC

Worksite location: 2707 FM 949, Alleyton, Texas 78935

Citations issued: July 8, 2016