INDIANAPOLIS – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration has reached a settlement restoring an additional $3.47 million directly to AIT Laboratories Employee Stock Ownership Plan, for losses associated with the plan’s 2009 purchase of overpriced company stock.

HARTFORD, Conn.  – After the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited and fined U.S. Chutes Inc.’s Bantam plant $94,428 for repeated and serious safety violations in January 2015, the manufacturer of galvanized chutes for laundry and trash conveyors asked for time to correct the hazards completely.

In the week ending May 21, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 268,000, a decrease of 10,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 278,000. The 4-week moving average was 278,500, an increase of 2,750 from the previous week's unrevised average of 275,750.

Employer name: The Timken Company, Bucyrus, Ohio

Citations issued: May 18, 2016

CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio – Federal safety and health investigators found that employees of an Ohio gun shop may face life-long health damage because their employer continues to expose them to lead hazards and has failed to establish a respiratory protection program.

ARLINGTON, Va. – The Mine Safety and Health Administration today announced that federal inspectors issued 90 citations and three orders during special impact inspections at 10 coal mines and three metal and nonmetal mines in April 2016.

SAN FRANCISCO – A federal judge has ordered the owner of a Bay Area taxi and limousine service to pay a collective $175,000 in back wages and damages to dozens of drivers who the company misclassified as independent contractors and failed to pay minimum wage and overtime pay as federal law requires. 

DALLAS – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs has filed a lawsuit alleging that Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. has systematically discriminated against female, African American and white jobseekers at its Mount Pleasant processing facility.

Type of Action: Consent judgment

Defendant(s): Ferry Carpets Inc., Alina Lolo, and Antonio Lolo

Resolution: Flooring company Ferry Carpets Inc. will pay 15 employees $140,000 in back wages and $140,000 in liquidated damages under the terms of a consent judgment entered in a U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey in Newark on May 24.

TARRYTOWN, N.Y. – Responding to complaints, inspectors from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration found access to emergency exits at two New Rochelle CVS stores blocked by merchandise, boxes and other objects. As a result, OSHA is citing the retailer for two repeated violations of workplace safety standards and proposing a total of $88,000 in fines.

NEW YORK – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $189,000 in unpaid wages and overtime for 28  carpenters and laborers who worked on the federally funded West 131st St. Cluster Project in Harlem between April 2009 and April 2010. This was the result of a joint enforcement effort with the office of New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman in which the two agencies shared information and worked collaboratively on behalf of workers in New York. The attorney general’s investigation continues.

Employer name: Payton Roofing Inc.

Inspection site: 4160 NW, 21^st St., Buildings B and D, Lauderhill, Florida 33313

Citations issued: Citations were issued to the employer on May 23.

Employer: Molina Healthcare of New Mexico Inc.

Site: 400 Tijeras SE, Suite 200, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Date of Action: May 23, 2016

Type of Action:  Default Judgment

Name of Defendant: William Robin Rose is the fiduciary to the Rose Printing Services Inc. Employees 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan, Rose Printing Services Inc. Employees Health Plan and Rose Printing Services Inc. Employees Dental Plan.

Employer: Federico’s Mexican Food Restaurant

Sites: 4014 North 43 Avenue, Phoenix, Arizona
3730 West Happy Valley Road, Suite 109, Glendale, Arizona
20429 North Lake Pleasant, Suite 101, Peoria, Arizona
7410 South 35 Avenue, Laveen, Arizona

ANDOVER, Mass.  – A candy-wrapping machine surgically amputated part of a temporary worker’s left index finger at a subsidiary of Tootsie Roll Industries Inc. of Chicago on Jan. 6, 2016, an incident that his employer might have prevented by meeting federal safety and health standards. 

MJR, a Boston staffing company that does business as Snelling Staffing Services, supplied the worker to Cambridge Brands Inc.’s production facility at 810 Main St., in Cambridge.

SEATTLE – The next time you enjoy an apple, a pear, a cherry or some other fruit, think for a moment about the people whose labor brought it to your table. From sun-up to sundown, these men and women exchange low wages earned in fields and packing houses for hard work and sore bodies.

Date of Action: May 23, 2016

Type of Action: Employee Retirement Income Security Act Lawsuit

Names of Defendants: Amy Demmy Rapp, Demmy Sand & Gravel LLC, Demmy Sand & Gravel LLC Retirement Savings Plan

Employer name: First Missouri Terminals Inc. operating as Midwest Grain & Barge Company Inc.
179 Rushing Road, Scott City, Missouri 63780                                

Citations issued: May 19, 2016

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

PHILADELPHIA – Had his employer properly created a work zone, a passing car on Philadelphia’s 63^rd Street might not have struck and killed a 27-year-old plumber working to repair an underground leak on a mid-November night in 2015.