Employer name: PAI Industries Inc.

Inspection site: 950 Northbrook Parkway Suwanee, Georgia 30024

Date investigation initiated: OSHA initiated the investigation on Oct. 1, 2014 as part of its Regional Emphasis Program for Safety Hazards in the Auto Parts Industry.

WASHINGTON — U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez today released the president's fiscal year 2016 budget for the Department of Labor, which supports the president's plan to strengthen the middle class and help America's hard-working families reap the benefits of an improved economy.

ARCADIA, Wis. — In a three-and-a-half year period, 4,500 employees at Ashley Furniture Industries Inc., in Arcadia, experienced more than 1,000 work-related injuries. One worker became another terrible statistic when he lost three fingers in July 2014 while operating a dangerous woodworking machine without required safety mechanisms in place. Of the injuries recorded, more than 100 were caused by similar machinery.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration has announced a final rule implementing the annual funding notice requirements under section 101(f) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended by the Pension Protection Act of 2006.

NEW YORK — About a year ago, New York Presbyterian-Columbia University Medical Center in Northern Manhattan replaced linen laundry bags with thin plastic bags that broke and needlessly exposed workers to laundry contaminated with blood, bodily fluids and other infectious materials.

Clothing, sheets, towels and other soiled laundry spewed onto the floor of the basement when bags broke or failed to stay closed as they came down laundry chutes. Employees were further exposed as they gathered and repacked the laundry.

TARRYTOWN, New York — Employees of a Brooklyn-based commercial and residential roofing contractor faced the threat of deadly or disabling falls as they replaced the 20,000-square-foot roof of Westchester County's Bedford Hills Elementary School, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has found.

Date of Action: Jan. 26, 2015

Type of Action: Consent Judgment

Name(s) of Defendant(s): Gregory Ridge, Ridge and Long Limited Co., and Ridge and Long Limited Company 401(k) Profit Sharing Plan and Trust

Allegations: Based on an investigation conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration, on July 29, 2014, the Secretary of Labor filed a complaint alleging the following:

Date of Action: Jan. 26, 2015

Type of Action: Consent Judgment

Name(s) of Defendant(s): Gregory Ridge, Ridge and Long Limited Co., and Ridge and Long Limited Company 401(k) Profit Sharing Plan and Trust

Allegations: Based on an investigation conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration, on July 29, 2014, the Secretary of Labor filed a complaint alleging the following:

Date of Action: Jan. 26, 2015

Type of Action: Consent Judgment

Name(s) of Defendant(s): Gregory Ridge, Ridge and Long Limited Co., and Ridge and Long Limited Company 401(k) Profit Sharing Plan and Trust

Allegations: Based on an investigation conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration, on July 29, 2014, the Secretary of Labor filed a complaint alleging the following:

Date of Action: Jan. 28, 2015

Type of Action: Consent Judgment and Order

Name of Defendants: SR Plastics Inc., SR Plastics Inc. Group Health Plan, Gary Anderson, and Daniel Fetsch

NEDERLAND, Texas — Specialty Painting & Wall Covering Inc. and M & S Enterprise have paid 22 painters and sheetrock installers $108,783 in overtime back wages after an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division. The investigation revealed violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act's overtime and record-keeping provisions and found that workers at M & S Enterprise were misclassified as independent contractors.

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — A second explosion in four months at the Indianhead Biomass Services plant in St. Augustine has left two laborers severely burned. An inspection by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration found that two men in their 50s attempted to shut down a sawdust dryer to unclog an outlet vent. This created an explosive environment when smoldering embers ignited the sawdust inside the dryer.

WASHINGTON — Losing a job is a difficult experience — fraught with uncertainty, fear and stress. Finding a new job is time-consuming and lost income creates a financial burden. For employers, layoffs can also be costly. Trimming staff when business slows means if new employees are needed when business picks back up, the employer faces the cost of training and lower productivity as workers acclimate.

Date of Action: Jan. 28, 2015

Type of Action: Consent Judgment and Order

Name of Defendants: SR Plastics Inc., SR Plastics Inc. Group Health Plan, Gary Anderson, and Daniel Fetsch

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of International Labor Affairs today announced the award of an $8 million cooperative agreement to the International Labor Organization to implement a technical cooperation project to prevent and reduce child labor in Vietnam. This project will be undertaken in coordination with the Government of Vietnam.

ARLINGTON, Va. — At the West Virginia Coal Association's 42nd Annual Mining Symposium in Charleston, West Virginia today, Assistant Secretary of Labor Joseph A. Main highlighted strategic actions the Mine Safety and Health Administration has implemented in the past five years to better protect miners and positively affect the mining industry's approach to safety.

WASHINGTON — Losing a job is a difficult experience — fraught with uncertainty, fear and stress. Finding a new job is time-consuming and lost income creates a financial burden. For employers, layoffs can also be costly. Trimming staff when business slows means if new employees are needed when business picks back up, the employer faces the cost of training and lower productivity as workers acclimate.

PORTLAND, Ore. — Sierra Construction Co. Inc. has agreed to pay $87,239 in back wages to 39 employees who worked on The Prescott apartment building, a federally financed construction project in Portland. U.S. Department of Labor investigators found that Sierra and two of its subcontractors failed to pay the prevailing wages required by the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts.

Employer name: Plastic Molding Technology Inc.

Site: El Paso, Texas

Date initiated: The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration initiated the November 2014 inspection under the National Emphasis Program on Amputations. The NEP is designed to identify and reduce workplace hazards that cause or are likely to cause amputations.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor today announced a proposal to clarify federal contractors' requirements to prohibit sex discrimination. The recommended changes would revise the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs' guidelines to align with laws, court decisions and societal changes since they were originally issued in 1970.