Type of Action: Fair Labor Standards Act Lawsuit Filing

Names of Defendants: Salsitas, Inc. doing business as Salsitas Mexican Restaurant & Cantina, and Oscar McBenttes

WASHINGTON — The Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans, also known as the ERISA Advisory Council, will meet on March 16, 2016, at the U.S. Department of Labor’s headquarters at 200 Constitution Ave. NW, Room S-2508, Washington, D.C. 20210. The meeting will run from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. eastern.

EDGERTON, Wis. ‒ Some may argue the belief that the number “13” brings misfortune is just superstition, but there is no doubt that fall safety violations by a Wisconsin roofing contractor found in 13 inspections in 10 years are a tragedy waiting to happen. Falls are a leading cause of death in the construction industry, accounting for nearly 40 percent of fatalities in 2014.

Event: The U.S. Department of Labor will host a two-day outreach event for current and former nuclear weapons workers, and their families and survivors in Bridgeton, Missouri, on Tuesday, March 29 and Wednesday, March 30.

AVON, Ohio ‒ Each time a worker mounts a scaffold they risk a dangerous fall, the leading causing of death in the construction industry. One in four who died working in the construction industry in 2014 died in a fall.

SUPERIOR, Wis. — An 18-year-old man lost his life just three months after starting work for Lunda Construction Company. The carpenter’s apprentice was mixing concrete for the Richard I. Bong Memorial Bridge resurfacing project when a rough-terrain forklift struck and killed him. The bridge spans St. Louis Bay between Superior and Duluth, Minnesota. Since 2012, three workers have died while working on Lunda highway construction projects.

Date of Action: March 11, 2016

Type of Action: Consent Judgment and Order

Name of Defendants: Carolina Crawler & Equipment of Charleston Inc., Susan Mills, Glenn Perry Mills, Carolina Crawler & Equipment SIMPLE IRA Plan

Employer: Plant Engineering Services LLC

Site: 1 Fluor Daniel Drive, Sugar Land, Texas

DALLAS – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division has added four companies and an additional $1.6 million in back wages for more than 2,500 employees as its effort to improve labor law compliance in the oil and gas industry continues.

NEW YORK – JP Morgan Chase Bank terminated a loan delivery operations manager at its Iselin, New Jersey offices illegally after he raised concerns about financial transactions to his superiors, a whistleblower investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has found.

PHOENIX – The U.S. Department of Labor sued a Phoenix-based pallet manufacturer after an investigation found that the company employed a combination of tactics to circumvent federal labor laws, including using fictitious names for workers, improperly labeling others as ‘vendors,’ and routinely destroying time cards at the end of each pay period.

Employer name: ALSS Recycling Inc.

Inspection site: 2600 Republic Blvd., Birmingham, Alabama 35203

TAMPA, Fla. – Assisted living facilities are often judged by how well they care for their patients – but how well are they caring for their workers?

Employer name: Dollar General Corporation

Inspection site: 203 Wedowee St., Bowdon, Georgia 30108

Citations issued: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued citations to the employer on March 07 for two repeated and one serious safety violation.

Employers: Garcia Recycling Center & Metals, Inc.

Sites: 631 S. Main St., Santa Ana, California
2429 W. McFadden Ave., Santa Ana, California
13862 Seaboard Circle, Garden Grove, California

State: Arkansas

Type of Award: National Dislocated Worker Grant

Award Amount Approved/Released: $2,045,788

Funding Awarded to: Arkansas Department of Workforce Services

Number of Workers Served: Approximately 107

OSHKOSH, Wis. ‒ A 20-year-old window washer fell more than 58 feet to his death because his safety lines were not properly tied off, federal inspectors found.

Employer name: Pilgrim’s Pride Corp.

Investigation site: 2045 Highway 244, Russellville, Alabama 35653

Citations issued: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued citations to the employer on March 07 for one repeated and one serious safety violation.

CINNAMINSON, N.J. – Workers of Berlin Builders, a residential construction contractor with projects throughout Southern New Jersey, are a step away from a serious injury or worse because their employer routinely exposes them to dangerous falls by ignoring safety standards that are required by law.

In the week ending March 5, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 259,000, a decrease of 18,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised down by 1,000 from 278,000 to 277,000. The 4-week moving average was 267,500, a decrease of 2,500 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised down by 250 from 270,250 to 270,000.