NEW YORK — For the second time in two years, a U.S. and international home decor manufacturer and distributor has shown that it lags in employee safety.

A U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspection of New York-based Idea Nuova's 302 Fifth Ave. showroom found aisles clogged with merchandise, including beanbag chairs, and an emergency exit blocked by disco balls, desks and lamps, conditions that could prevent a swift workplace exit in an emergency.

Participants: The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Austin Area Office and the Consulate General of Mexico in Austin. Signing the agreement were R. Casey Perkins and Carlos Gonzales Gutierrez.

LANCASTER, Ohio – Two years after agreeing to reduce workers' exposure to lead and cadmium, a Lancaster battery recycling facility continues to expose workers to dangerously high airborne concentrations of the metals – a leading cause of workplace illness – which can cause long-term damage to the central nervous, urinary, blood and reproductive systems.

US Department of Labor finds General Atomics violated federal wage requirement

SAN DIEGO — Federal law requires government contractors to pay their workers the prevailing wage rates and fringe benefits in their geographic area. On the books for half a century, the law ensures that companies do not make their services less costly at the expense of their workers, or drive down wages for other area workers.

OSHA cited Retriev Technologies for same hazards in 2012

OSHA also finds combustible dust hazards that could have caused an explosion

Stephen Lessard of Maine ordered to correct hazards, pay $405K in penalties

Date of action: Aug. 24, 2015

Type of action: Judgment

Name of defendant: Lessard Roofing and Siding Inc., Lessard Brothers Construction Inc., and their successors and/or alter egos

State: Texas

Type of Award: National Dislocated Worker Grant

Initial Amount Released: $718,356

Total Award Amount Approved: $2,155,068

Funding Awarded to: Texas Workforce Commission

Number of Workers Served: Approximately 120

CHICAGO – The U.S. Department of Labor is suing an Illinois home health care provider alleging that the company, the profit-sharing plan and two of its trustees improperly authorized distributions of $1,601,908 in profit-sharing plan assets, in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

The department’s suit names Palos Hills-based Alliance Home Healthcare Inc.; the Alliance Home Healthcare Inc. Profit Sharing Plan; and company owners and plan trustees, Reginaldo Sulit and Dalisay Sulit.

Employer: Z-Best Medical Transportation, LLC

Site: 1505 N. Alma School Rd., Chandler, Arizona 85224

Employer name: H & S Manufacturing Co. Inc., Marshfield, Wisconsin

Citations issued: Aug. 18, 2015

Investigation findings: The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Madison Area Office issued 13 safety and health violations to the farm machinery and equipment manufacturer. The violations include:

WASHINGTON — As director of the Cement Masons Southern California Trust Funds' audit and collections department, Cheryle Robbins spoke up when she believed a trustee was breaking federal law protecting CMSCTF's retirement and benefit plans. Robbins later cooperated with federal investigators, and the board of trustees responded by placing Robbins on administrative leave. When the company outsourced her department to a third-party administrator, Robbins was the only employee not retained by the new employer.

CHICAGO — The U.S. Department of Labor is suing an Illinois home health care provider alleging that the company, the profit-sharing plan and two of its trustees improperly authorized distributions of $1,601,908 in profit-sharing plan assets, in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

The department's suit names Palos Hills-based Alliance Home Healthcare Inc.; the Alliance Home Healthcare Inc. Profit Sharing Plan; and company owners and plan trustees, Reginaldo Sulit and Dalisay Sulit.

ARLINGTON, Va. The Mine Safety and Health Administration today announced that federal inspectors issued 225 citations and six orders during special impact inspections at 15 coal mines and six metal and nonmetal mines in July.

Employer name: Select Van and Storage doing business as Mayflower/United, 10511 S. Circle, Omaha, Nebraska

Citations issued: The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued one serious, and one other-than-serious safety violation to the company by mail on Aug. 14, 2015.

OSHA proposes penalties of nearly $120K for employer with history of safety violations

Employer name: American Air Filter Co. Inc., doing business as AAF International

Inspection site: 2624 Weaver Way, Atlanta, Georgia 30340

Hazards cited at Nebraska operation mirror those found following March fatality

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Mine Safety and Health Administration today announced that federal inspectors issued 225 citations and six orders during special impact inspections at 15 coal mines and six metal and nonmetal mines in July.

Date of action: Aug. 6, 2015

Type of action: Sentencing

Name of defendant: Marcus Borden, a steel and roofing contractor, based in Russellville, Alabama

Allegations: On April 6, 2015, the U.S. Department of Justice charged Marcus Borden with making false statements and lying to U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspectors regarding an incident investigation at one of Borden's work sites in Cordova, Alabama, on March 18, 2013.

United Mailing Services agrees to pay $120K in back wages to 251 applicants

MILWAUKEE — The U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs has found that United Mailing Services denied jobs to 251 African Americans who completed job applications for entry-level mail processing jobs at its Brookfield, Wisconsin facility.