March 16, 2015

OSHA News Brief: OSHA cites Bruegger's Bagels after three workers hospitalized for overexposure to carbon monoxide [03/16/2015]

Employer name: Bruegger's Enterprises, Inc., doing business as Bruegger's Bagels

Inspection site: 2000 Cecil Ashburn Drive SE, Huntsville, Alabama 35802

March 16, 2015

OSHA News Release: Bowling center worker dies after his hooded sweatshirt catches in pinsetter [03/16/2015]

FAIRFIELD, Ohio — A 53-year-old bowling alley worker was asphyxiated when his hooded sweatshirt was caught in a pinsetter at Northwest Lanes in Fairfield because the machine's operating parts were improperly exposed, an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration found.

March 16, 2015

OSHA News Release: Behr Iron & Steel recycling plants face penalties of $366K for continued exposure of workers to machine, fall and confined space hazards [03/16/2015]

ROCKFORD, Ill. — Once again, workers were exposed to dangerous amputation hazards during maintenance and while processing scrap metal because safety mechanisms were not in place at Behr Iron & Steel facilities in Rockford and Peoria. The September 2014 inspections by the U.S.

March 16, 2015

OSHA News Brief: OSHA cites Nova Southeastern University for exposing faculty to high levels of formaldehyde [03/16/2015]

Employer name: Nova Southeastern University

Inspection site: 3301 College Ave., Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33314

Date inspection initiated: The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration initiated the investigation on Nov. 5, 2014, after receiving a complaint about faculty in the anatomy lab being exposed to formaldehyde.

Inspection findings:

March 16, 2015

OSHA News Release: Worker dies after fall at La Belle, Missouri, dairy farm [03/16/2015]

LA BELLE, Mo. — A 35-year-old worker doing maintenance on an overhead door's pulleys died after he fell off a 12-foot ladder onto a concrete floor at a dairy farm in La Belle, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has concluded. An OSHA investigation of the Sept. 1, 2014, incident identified eight serious safety violations, including failing to de-energize equipment, confined space and chemical hazards.

March 16, 2015

OSHA News Release: World Kitchen exposes Corning, New York, employees to fire, fall, electrical, mechanical and other hazards, OSHA finds [03/16/2015]

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — World Kitchen LLC makes dinnerware for well-known brand names, such as Corelle and CorningWare. Less well-known is that workers at the company's Corning manufacturing plant have been exposed to a variety of hazards that put their health and safety at risk.

March 16, 2015

OSHA News Release: New York City Transit Authority retaliates against employee for participating in safety inspection and filing complaint, OSHA finds [03/16/2015]

NEW YORK — It began as a routine safety inspection in August 2012 at the New York City Transit Authority's Linden Shop maintenance facility in Brooklyn. It ended with the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration finding that the transit authority and one of its supervisors discriminated against an employee for exercising his safety rights under the National Transit Systems Security Act. As a result, OSHA has ordered the NYCTA and supervisor Mark Ruggerio to pay the employee $52,500 in damages and take other corrective action.

March 16, 2015

EBSA News Brief: US Labor Department sues fiduciaries of Northampton, Mass., health plan for unremitted contributions, unpaid healthcare claims [03/16/2015]

Date of Action: January 23, 2015

Type of Action: Complaint

Names of Defendants: Northampton Motor Classics LLC and Andrew Feuerstein

March 16, 2015

MSHA News Release: Mine Safety's Main reviews five years of progress at National Stone, Sand and Gravel Association meeting [03/16/2015]

ARLINGTON, Va. — Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health Joseph A. Main told members at the annual convention of the National Stone, Sand and Gravel Association in Baltimore today that mining industry improvements in the past five years have laid the foundation for better protections for miners. "We are seeing significant reductions in chronic violators, improved industry compliance, and successful implementation of standards in metal and nonmetal mining," he said.

March 16, 2015

EBSA News Release: Obama administration publishes final rule on excepted benefits [03/16/2015]

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Treasury have published final rules to amend the definition of excepted benefits to include certain limited coverage that wraps around individual health insurance. Such coverage would have to be specifically designed to provide meaningful benefits such as coverage for expanded in-network medical clinics or providers, reimbursement for the full cost of primary care, or coverage of the cost of prescription drugs not on the formulary of the primary plan.

March 13, 2015

Laser and Skin Surgery of New York ESOP overpays in $24M stock sale, US Labor Department charges in lawsuit

NEW YORK – Accurate company valuations are critical when it comes to establishing an Employee Stock Ownership Plan. Too often, company owners seek to inflate the price to benefit themselves at the expense of workers. The U.S. Department of Labor alleges that this is what Dr. Roy Geronemus, owner of the Manhattan-based Laser and Skin Surgery Center of New York, and plan trustee Samuel Ginsberg did when they created the Laser Skin and Surgery Center Employee Stock Ownership Plan in 2009.

March 13, 2015

OSHA News Brief: OSHA issues hazard alert letter to Hope Elephants following death [03/13/2015]

Employer name: Hope Elephants

Inspection site: 49 Hatchet Rd., Hope, Maine 04847

Date of incident: James Laurita, co-founder, curator and elephant manager of the Hope Elephant Refuge was found dead in the refuge's compound on Sept. 9, 2014, with a crushed chest.

March 13, 2015

EBSA News Release: Laser and Skin Surgery of New York ESOP overpays in $24M stock sale, US Labor Department charges in lawsuit [03/13/2015]

NEW YORK — Accurate company valuations are critical when it comes to establishing an Employee Stock Ownership Plan. Too often, company owners seek to inflate the price to benefit themselves at the expense of workers. The U.S. Department of Labor alleges that this is what Dr. Roy Geronemus, owner of the Manhattan-based Laser and Skin Surgery Center of New York, and plan trustee Samuel Ginsberg did when they created the Laser Skin and Surgery Center Employee Stock Ownership Plan in 2009.

March 12, 2015

US Labor Department secures appointment of independent fiduciary to administer abandoned North Billerica, Massachusetts, retirement plan

Date of Action: March 9, 2015

Type of Action: Consent Judgment and Order

Name of Defendant: Electronic Business Solutions Inc.

March 12, 2015

OSHA News Release: OSHA cites Affordable Exteriors for 7th time in 10 years for failing to provide fall protection to roofers [03/12/2015]

Niece Products of Kansas faces more than $60K in fines for endangering workers

March 12, 2015

EBSA News Brief: US Labor Department files lawsuit against Longmont, Colorado, administrator for receiving illegal commission payments [03/12/2015]

Date of Action: March 9, 2015

Type of Action: Judgment to permanently enjoin from serving as a fiduciary to any retirement benefit plan subject to the Employee Retirement Security Income Act of 1974 and from violating the act.

Name(s) of Defendant: Alvin Martin Mavis

March 12, 2015

OPA News Brief: Edward M. Kennedy inducted into Labor Hall of Honor [03/12/2015]

Who: U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez; former Labor Secretaries William E. Brock, Elaine Chao and Alexis M. Herman; Victoria Reggie Kennedy; Patrick Kennedy; Edward Kennedy Jr., William Kennedy Smith; U.S. Sens. Richard Durbin and Elizabeth Warren; and former congressman John Tierney.

March 12, 2015

OWCP News Release: Direct Final Rule and Notice of Proposed Rulemaking seeks to modernize document and info transmission of Longshore claims [03/12/2015]

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Workers' Compensation Programs is expanding the means by which documents and information can be transmitted between OWCP and its stakeholders. A direct final rule and a proposed rule published in the March 12 issue of the Federal Register apply to claims handled by OWCP's longshore program.

March 11, 2015

OWCP News Release: Town hall meetings in Colorado will assist nuclear weapons workers [03/11/2015]

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor will host three town hall meetings on March 18 in Westminster, Colorado, to provide nuclear weapons workers, including those who worked at the Rocky Flats Plant, with information about the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act and the medical benefits provided to approved claimants under the program.

March 11, 2015

OSHA News Release: Serial violator Stephen Lessard faces contempt charges for ignoring OSHA safety hazards, failing to pay $400K in fines [03/11/2015]

Roofing contractor flouts prior court order; continues to put workers at risk of falls

BOSTON — A Maine roofing contractor's continued refusal to obey a federal court order to correct safety hazards and pay more than $400,000 in fines could send him to jail.