OKLAHOMA CITY — Heavy construction in Oklahoma continues to boom as the state's Department of Transportation repairs or replaces aging bridges and roads. An influx of contractors brings new jobs and often a host of labor law violations that apply to these projects.

HARBESON, Del. — Workers cutting chicken fat, bone and cartilage eight hours a day at a Delaware poultry plant are suffering musculoskeletal injuries caused by their jobs, an inspection by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration found.

Date of Action: June 16, 2015

Type of Action: Consent Judgment

Name of Defendant: The Estate of Richard Talley and American Title Services Retirement Trust

Allegations: Based on an investigation conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor's Employee Benefit Security Administration regarding a complaint filed on June 27, 2014 alleging:

NEW ORLEANS — Six Gulf Coast staffing agencies have agreed to pay thousands of workers nearly $3.5 million in back wages after U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigators found part of their wages were mislabeled as "per diem" payments as reimbursement for expenses they never incurred.

Federal investigators found the agencies owed back wages to more than 3,000 workers – welders, electricians, pipe fitters, and other craftspeople – on maritime vessels and other oil and gas industry projects.

MANKATO, Minn. — Twenty-five employees of a Minnesota restaurant will receive almost $355,000 in back wages after U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigators found that the eatery violated minimum wage, overtime and record-keeping provisions in the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Employer name: Gehring Construction & Ready Mix Concrete Inc., Columbus, Nebraska

Investigation site: 3304 North Shore Drive Schuyler, Nebraska

Employer name: Alin Machining Company Inc., doing business as Power Plant ServicesInvestigation site: 3131 W. Soffel Ave. Melrose Park, Illinois

Date investigation initiated and what prompted inspection: On March 4, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Chicago North Area Office initiated an inspection after Alin Machining Company reported that a worker had suffered a severe finger laceration while operating a lathe.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. labor market is in constant motion as businesses react to fluid marketplace demands. To stay current with these changes and equip workers with the skills needed to be competitive, job-training programs must be nimble and ready to respond as labor demands change.

Effective partnerships with industries and educational organizations also allow federally funded training programs to align better with the local economy and shift as changes occur.

SEATTLE — North America's second-largest freight railroad, Burlington Northern Santa Fe LLC, must reinstate a train conductor and pay the man $536,063 in back pay, damages and attorney's fees after a federal investigation found the rail operator retaliated against its employee after reporting a knee injury.

OKLAHOMA CITY — An open-flame heater on the floor of a rig likely sparked the fire that killed three natural gas drillers and seriously injured two others in a December 2014 drilling rig fire in Coalgate, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has concluded.

In June 2013, OSHA cited the company for allowing the use of an open-flame heater.

Employer Name and Location: Frame carpentry contractor Express Construction 3 Corp. is located at 64 Wright Street, 2nd Floor, in Newark, New Jersey. The investigation was conducted at The Mews at Liberty Village, a residential construction project in Coopersburg, Pennsylvania.

BALTIMORE — A Baltimore staffing agency for federal contractors allegedly hired Hispanic construction laborers, and then harassed and discriminated against them. It also allowed supervisors of other federal contractors to assault them physically, make racial slurs, and threaten them with deportation. The allegations were made in a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs.

BALTIMORE — A Baltimore staffing agency for federal contractors allegedly hired Hispanic construction laborers, and then harassed and discriminated against them. It also allowed supervisors of other federal contractors to assault them physically, make racial slurs, and threaten them with deportation. The allegations were made in a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs.

Employer name: Canton Drop Forge

Investigation site: 4575 Southway SW, Canton, Ohio

BOSTON — A Tyngsboro company that supplies temporary employees to businesses has agreed to enhanced workplace safety and health protections for workers it places in all those businesses in a settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor.

The department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited Marathon Staffing Services Inc. for a serious violation in December 2014 for not providing hearing tests for its employees exposed to high noise levels while working on assignment at Concrete Systems Inc. in Hudson, New Hampshire.

Violations found by investigators will help more than 100 restaurant and hotel workers

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — At a University of Michigan Wolverines' home game, 109,000 college football fans often cram into "The Big House," the stadium known to hold nearly all Ann Arbor residents. Game weekends mean an increased demand for workers at packed bars, restaurants and hotels.

More than $89K in penalties also assessed for H-2A violations

ASHLAND, Neb. — Farmworkers harvesting melons, cucumbers, pumpkins and squash on a Nebraska farm labored long hours to put fresh produce on Midwestern tables, but were denied the wages they earned and were legally entitled to receive when their employer failed to follow the law.

SAN ANTONIO — The latest investigation in the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division ongoing enforcement initiative, focused on the oil and gas industry in New Mexico and Texas, has helped 188 workers who will receive $157,000 in back wages after investigators found their employer violated the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Wage and Hour Division investigators in the San Antonio District Office found that Elite Production Services LLC failed to include the workers' bonus payments when calculating their rates of pay for overtime hours.

Employer: Calmaui Inc., doing business as Pineapple Grill at Kapalua

Site: 200 Kapalua Dr., Lahaina, Hawaii 96761

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — If they had been in place, safety mechanisms might have saved a 62-year-old parts assembler who died after he was struck by a 4-pound metal spacer that flew off a 4-ton hydraulic press, U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspectors determined.