MANCHESTER, N.H. — The Fair Labor Standards Act ensures that employees receive proper wages and overtime for all hours worked. It also prohibits employers from retaliating against employees who cooperate with investigations by the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division.

Date of Action: Aug. 4, 2015

Type of Action: Lawsuit for violating the whistleblower provisions of the Occupational Safety and Health Act

Name of Defendant: Continental Alloys and Services Inc. in Spring, Texas

OSCEOLA, Wis. — Just one year after a worker amputated part of her right index finger on a spot welding machine at an Osceola metal stamping plant, a 19-year-old female co-worker suffered a similar injury on the same machine. U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspectors found that her employer failed to implement safety procedures they agreed upon to protect workers from machine operating parts.

Employer name: Pallet Recycle of Alabama Inc.

Inspection site: 2424 Lasso Ave., Lakeland, Florida 30801

Date citations issued: The Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued 29 citations to the employer on Aug. 3. The safety inspection was initiated in March 2015, as part of the agency's National Emphasis Program on Amputations. A health inspection related to excessive noise was initiated in April.

CINCINNATI — Employees at a Cincinnati nursing care facility will benefit from improvements the company is making to its policies and procedures for transferring residents at Twin Towers, a provider of skilled nursing care services.

Nursing facilities have among the highest rates of serious work-related injuries and musculoskeletal disorders, including those of the neck, upper extremities and lower back, which account for a significant portion of these injuries.

Date of action: July 24, 2015

Type of action: Summary judgment and order

Names of defendants: Burgess Baird Jr. and DSI Contracting Inc.

Employer name: Chaney Roofing Maintenance Inc. 7040 State Route 101 Clyde, Ohio

Investigation site: 10300 W. US-224 Findlay, Ohio

Date investigation initiated and what prompted inspection: The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Toledo Area Office issued a safety citation to Chaney Roofing Maintenance Inc., July 22. OSHA opened an investigation of the contractor after observing workers exposed to fall hazards while roofing an Art-Van Furniture Store, June 16.

Employer name: Wilbert Inc., Belmont, North Carolina

Investigation site: Wilbert Inc., operating as Wilbert Plastic Services 635 Southwest Street Bellevue, Ohio

Employer: Reliance Electric, Inc.

Site: Bixby, Oklahoma and Hildale, Utah

PHOENIX — For 246 current and former employees of an Arizona cable installation company, a fair day's pay for a fair day's work is finally ringing true as their employer has pay them a total of $350,150 in back wages after failing to pay them overtime rates, as required by federal law.

Employer name: BWay Corp.

Location: Bryan, Texas

Date citations issued: The Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued the citations on July 30, 2015. The inspection was opened in February in response to a complaint of unsafe working conditions.

MILWAUKEE — Proper safety guards would have stopped a 1,500-pound steel roller before it crushed and killed a 59-year-old maintenance worker, but his employer did not use them, a U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspection has found.

NEW ORLEANS — Hiring choices based on the belief that a person of one race works harder than others are wrong and they are illegal, federal investigators have reminded a Louisiana packaging manufacturer.

In an agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, La Pac Manufacturing Inc. settled allegations of systemic hiring discrimination against more than 300 applicants at its Crowley facility. The company, a federal contractor, has agreed to pay $235,000 in lost wages.

WASHINGTON — For more than a decade, the U.S. government has been championing efforts to reduce child labor in West African cocoa production, providing vulnerable children in cocoa-growing areas with better access to education and vocational training, and their families with support so they can better provide for themselves and meet their basic needs without relying on child labor.

WASHINGTON — The Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans, also known as the ERISA Advisory Council, will hold a meeting Aug. 18-20 in Washington at the Liaison Capitol Hill Hotel at 415 New Jersey Avenue NW, Washington, DC. The meeting will begin at 9 a.m. and end at approximately 5:30 p.m. on Aug. 18 and 19, with a one-hour break for lunch each day. On Aug. 20, the meeting begins at 8:30 a.m. and ends at approximately 12 p.m.

Employer name: Southcross Energy Partners GP LLC

Site: Gregory, Texas, with headquarters in Dallas

Date cited: The Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited the midstream cryogenic natural gas processing facility.

Employer name: Clemco Industries Inc.

Investigation site: One Cable Car Drive, Washington, Missouri

Investigation findings: The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration's St. Louis Area Office issued 10 serious and one other-than-serious safety and health violations to the Clemco Industries on July 24. The company manufactures abrasive blasting equipment such as hoods, valves and hoppers and employs about 150 workers.

Date of Action: July 27, 2015

Type of Action: Complaint, Consent Order and Judgment

Names of Defendants: Marcia Langenecker, individually and as fiduciary of the Approved Products Inc. 401(k) Savings Retirement Plan; Approved Products Inc.; and Approved Products Inc. 401(k) Savings Retirement Plan

NEW YORK — The owner and operator of several Brooklyn preschool facilities threatened and tried to force employees to be part of a kickback scheme to fake payment of back wages owed to them, the U.S. Department of Labor has alleged in a federal court complaint.

Type of Action: Fair Labor Standards Act Lawsuit

Name of Defendant: Sanchez Inc., doing business as Rancho Fiesta, Lorenzo Sanchez

Allegations: An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division found that the Mexican cuisine restaurant and shareholder Lorenzo Sanchez, who managed day-to-day operations of the Mansfield, Ohio, establishment, violated the Fair Labor Standards Act.