Date of Action:  Feb. 8, 2016

Name(s) of Defendant(s): Richard J. Kwasny
Kwasny & Reilly P.C.
Kwasny & Reilly 401 (k) Profit Sharing Plan

Employer name: Leon Ray Burkholder, doing business as Burkholder Builders, at 580 Indiantown Rd., Ephrata, Pennsylvania

Inspection site: Multi-family residential construction project at 443-447 Marlene Way in Leola.

Participants: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration

Associated General Contractors Panhandle of Texas Chapter, Amarillo, Texas

Employer name: Apollo Industries Inc.

Investigation site: 1850 South Cobb Industrial Blvd., Smyrna, Georgia 30082

Investigation findings: Investigators from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division’s Atlanta District office found the employer violated overtime, minimum wage and recordkeeping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Apollo Industries is a specialty chemical contract packager.

CONCORD, N.H. – The circus tent that collapsed in Lancaster during a sudden downdraft of air called a “micro-burst” on Aug. 3, 2015, was not properly erected and the circus operator, Walker International Events, did not follow repeated National Weather Service storm warnings, an inspection by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has found.

The collapse killed two audience members and injured dozens of others, including two circus employees,

Employer name: Primecraft Doors Inc.

Location: Malvern, Arkansas

Citations issued: Feb. 16, 2016

CHICAGO – A federal judge has ordered an Illinois home health care provider and two of its officers to repay a total of $1,736,339 to the Alliance Home Healthcare Inc. Profit Sharing Plan.

In the week ending February 13, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 262,000, a decrease of 7,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 269,000. The 4-week moving average was 273,250, a decrease of 8,000 from the previous week's unrevised average of 281,250.

Employer name: Crothall Laundry Services Inc.

Inspection site: 9905 S. 13^th St., Oak Creek, Wisconsin

Citations issued: Feb. 9, 2016

Investigation findings: The U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Milwaukee area office cited Crothall Laundry Services for six serious safety violations.

ATLANTA – As they recover from the impacts of severe storms and tornadoes, Mississippi’s emergency workers, employers, and the public at-large should be aware of the hazards they may encounter and take necessary steps to stay safe, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration urges.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The structural steel collapse at Bryant University in Smithfield that injured six workers on Sept. 1, 2015, could have been prevented, an inspection by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has determined.

Employer name: Midwest Farmers Cooperative

Inspection site: 17700 South 1^st St., Martell, Nebraska

Citations issued: Feb. 11, 2016

KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Imagine having to pay your restaurant employer to be able to work there.

That’s what U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division investigators found at two popular Sophia’s House of Pancakes restaurants in Kalamazoo and Benton Harbor where servers were required to pay $2 an hour from their tips to their employer. Investigators also found that Peter Philis, who runs the Benton Harbor location, discriminated against a server, claiming that she reported violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act to the Labor Department.

ST. MICHAEL, Minn. – A central Minnesota sheet metal fabricator has paid $85,617 in back wages and an additional equal amount in liquidated damages totaling $171,234 to 43 workers. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division determined the company violated the overtime provisions of Fair Labor Standards Act by “banking” overtime hours instead of paying for that time at legally-required time and a half.

WOODLAWN, Ill. – The death of a 20-year-old worker killed when a tree fell on him during logging operations could have been prevented if his employer had removed damaged trees prior to conducting logging operations on a 40-acre site in Woodlawn, federal inspectors determined.

Employer name: Republic Wire Inc.

Inspection site: 5525 Union Centre Drive, West Chester, Ohio

Citations issued: Feb. 10, 2016

Investigation findings: The U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Cincinnati Area Office cited Republic Wire for one willful, four serious and one other-than-serious violation.

Employer: MGM Resorts International, doing business as “The Mirage”

Site: 3400 Las Vegas Blvd. South, Las Vegas, Nevada

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration and other federal safety agencies announced today that they have designated May 2-6, 2016, for the third annual National Safety Stand-Down. The event is a nationwide effort to remind and educate employers and workers in the construction industry of the serious dangers of falls – the cause of the highest number of industry deaths in the construction industry.

SALINA, Kan. – A leading supplier of frozen specialty foods is facing more than $172,000 in fines after two workers at its Salina facility suffered amputations in separate incidents and a third suffered lacerations and burns.

WASHINGTON – The Bureau of International Labor Affairs' new mobile application, “Sweat & Toil: Child Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking Around the World,” is now available to download for devices using the Android operation system from Google Play.