WASHINGTON — The application period for the fall 2015 Honors Program in the Office of the Solicitor at the U.S. Department of Labor is underway. The program provides challenging professional opportunities for outstanding law school graduates with a passion for public service.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Copemish employer Darryl Howes, doing business as Darryl Howes Farms, signed a consent judgment under which he agreed to pay $11,253 in back wages to 36 migrant workers to resolve a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Labor. Howes has agreed to implement enhanced record-keeping procedures to ensure the business complies with the record-keeping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

HOUSTON — Sterling Shipyard LP was cited for 16 serious, repeat and failure-to-abate violations by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration for continuing to expose workers to safety hazards, including dangerous machinery, high noise levels without appropriate hearing protection and falls from heights above 6 feet. Proposed penalties total $305,100.

AUSTIN, Texas — The Underwood Group Inc., along with seven subcontractors, was cited for safety violations by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration for failing to provide workers with required fall protection equipment. As a result, a worker fell 29 feet to his death at a condominium construction site in Canyon Lake. The proposed penalties total $53,480.

ST. LOUIS, Mo. — The U.S. Department of Labor has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Postal Service on behalf of a maintenance employee at the St. Louis Network Distribution Center in Hazelwood, Mo., who reported unsafe working conditions and suffered reprisals, including false charges of making a terrorist threat.

COOLVILLE, Ohio — Two workers were free climbing, or climbing without safety lines, a 195-foot communication tower under construction without adequate fall protection in Coolville. As a result, Morlan Enterprises has been cited for one willful and eight serious safety violations by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA has proposed penalties of $52,500.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — The U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division will offer a comprehensive compliance seminar for employers, community rehabilitation programs and other stakeholders on the rules governing the payment of workers with disabilities under Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The seminar will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. CDT at Gateway Tower II Building, 400 State Ave., Room 201, Kansas City, Kansas 66101. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. There is no charge to attend.

HOUMA, La. — B & D Contracting Inc., a labor recruiting and staffing agency that caters to oil field services and maritime fabrication facilities along the Gulf Coast, has agreed to pay $1,660,438 in back wages to 1,543 current and former employees. An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor found that the company engaged in improper pay and record-keeping practices that resulted in employees being denied overtime compensation in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

SABINA, Ohio — Three employees of Sabina Farmers Exchange Inc. in Wilmington were found working inside a grain storage bin while a mechanical sweep auger, a machine used to push grain remaining at the bottom of a storage bin toward the bin's opening, was operating. This exposed the workers to severe injury and death by being engulfed in flowing grain. The U.S. Occupational Health and Safety Administration has cited the company for three repeat and six serious safety violations at the company's grain bins in Wilmington and Sabina because of the complaint inspection.

HOUMA, La. — B & D Contracting Inc., a labor recruiting and staffing agency that caters to oil field services and maritime fabrication facilities along the Gulf Coast, has agreed to pay $1,660,438 in back wages to 1,543 current and former employees. An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor found that the company engaged in improper pay and record-keeping practices that resulted in employees being denied overtime compensation in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Date of Action: June 30, 2014

Type of Action: Default Judgment & Order

Name(s) of Defendant(s): Scott W. Rothstein

Date of Action: June 30, 2014

Type of Action: Default Judgment & Order

Name(s) of Defendant(s): Scott W. Rothstein

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A judgment entered in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut resolves a lawsuit filed against S.D. Transportation Services LLC, doing business as Premier Limousine, and owner Stephen DiMarco, by the U.S. Department of Labor in March 2012. Premier Limousine, a Berlin company, will pay a total of $500,000 in back wages and liquidated damages to 183 drivers who were denied legally required overtime wages.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — An employee of R.E. Arnold Construction Inc. was trapped when the wall of an excavation he was working in collapsed around him. The incident occurred as the employee removed dirt from a storm filtration system at the company's work site, and the local fire and rescue team had to remove the employee, who left the scene in critical condition. As a result, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited R.E Arnold with one willful and two serious safety violations.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Sterilite Corp., doing business as Sterilite of Alabama LLC, and Marathon Staffing Corp. Inc., for 13 safety and health violations. OSHA initiated the January 2013 inspection at Sterilite's plastics manufacturing facility in Birmingham as part of its National Emphasis Program on Amputations and regional emphasis program to limit worker exposure to high noise levels.

WASHINGTON — U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez today issued the following statement regarding Congressional approval of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act:

"Congress has taken a strong, decisive bipartisan step forward with the passage by both the Senate and the House of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. I applaud the members from both sides of the aisle who led the way to forge this compromise.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Two workers were killed after falling approximately 90 feet while working on the construction of the I-85 interchange Outer Loop overpass. The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited R.R. Dawson Bridge Co. LLC with four safety violations following its January 2014 investigation of the fatalities.

NEW YORK — Workers demolishing a three-unit, three-story residential building in Brooklyn's Prospect-Lefferts Gardens section were exposed to potentially fatal falls due to their employer's failure to provide and ensure the use of lifesaving fall protection. As a result, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has proposed $45,200 in penalties against Brooklyn contractor US Demco of Brooklyn Inc. for one willful and seven serious violations of workplace safety standards.

MCKEES ROCKS, Pa. — The U.S. Department of Labor has entered into an agreement with McKees Rocks Industrial Enterprises Inc. and James T. Lind, the company's president, resolving a lawsuit alleging the illegal termination of a general laborer. The worker raised safety concerns at the company's McKees Rocks work site, which serves as both an industrial park and a terminal facility, resulting in an inspection by the department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Violations exposed miners to black lung, explosion hazards

ARLINGTON, Va. — An impact inspection at the Rhino Eastern LLC's Eagle Mine 3 in Wyoming County, West Virginia, found conditions that put miners at risk of developing black lung disease and that increased the potential for deadly explosions, underscoring the importance of mine safety vigilance and the need for continued improvements in controlling coal dust.