Employer: Recyc-Mattress Corp., 12 Eastern Park Road
East Hartford, Connecticut, a mattress recycler.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez today issued the following statement in response to the introduction of the Overtime Reform and Enhancement Act. The proposed legislation would delay implementation of the department’s final rule updating overtime protections for millions of U.S. workers:

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration is soliciting nominations to fill five, three-year vacancies on the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans, also known as the ERISA Advisory Council. The deadline to submit nominations is Aug 1.

Employer name: Materion Brush Inc.
Elmore, Ohio

Citations issued: July 13, 2016

Investigation findings: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued one willful safety violation to Materion Brush after a worker had three fingers fractured when his right hand became caught in a pinch point as he operated a metal coiler.

State: West Virginia

Type of Award: National Dislocated Worker Grant

Award Amount Approved/Released: $3,500,000

Funding Awarded to: Workforce West Virginia

Number of Workers Served: Approximately 250

Employer name: Bennett Heat Treating and Brazing Co. Inc.

Inspection site: 690 Ferry St., Newark, New Jersey 

NEW YORK – Thirty-one workers employed on the federally funded cobblestone reconstruction project on Manhattan’s Peck Slip will receive $431,715 in back wages and interest following an investigation and litigation by the U.S. Department of Labor.

Employer name:James T. Lynch Construction Co. Inc.,
77 Lowell Junction Road, Andover, Massachusetts, a water and sewer line contractor.

Inspection site: Stoneham Crossing Apartments construction site, 225 Fallon Road, Stoneham

In the week ending July 9, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 254,000, unchanged from the previous week's unrevised level of 254,000. The 4-week moving average was 259,000, a decrease of 5,750 from the previous week's unrevised average of 264,750.

PHILADELPHIA – An alarming series of tragic – and preventable – incidents in the greater Philadelphia area is prompting the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration to call on the region’s construction companies to ensure that their employees have and use proper equipment when required to protect them from work-related falls.

QUEENSBURY, N.Y. – Federal workplace safety and health inspectors have cited a Queensbury manufacturer for exposing employees to uncorrected explosion hazards, as well as recurring fire and fall hazards.

BOSTON – Employees at United Plastics manufacturing plants in Leominster, Massachusetts, and Sardis, Mississippi, will receive a total of $1,433,618 in back wages and liquidated damages as part of a consent judgment and order obtained in federal court by the U.S. Department of Labor.

BIGLERVILLE, Pa. – For more than two months, a worker at a Pennsylvania pallet company repeatedly told her employer about health concerns related to mold exposure at a Biglerville plant. Despite confirming that the mold existed, IFCO Services N.A. Inc. did not remove the fungus and instead fired the woman less than three weeks after she complained again about her health concerns.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation are seeking public comments on proposed revisions to modernize and improve the Form 5500 Annual Return/Report filed by private-sector employee benefit plans.

Employers names: Exterran Energy Solutions LP
South Texas Specialty Welders LLC

Worksite location: 2707 FM 949, Alleyton, Texas 78935

Citations issued: July 8, 2016

Employer name: Nidi Tec Inc.

Worksite: 591 East 56th Ave., Denver, Colorado 80216

Citations issued: July 6, 2016

CINCINNATI, Ohio – Pipefitters and bricklayers constructing the Viking Village Shared Facility Pool in Sharonville under a federal contract will recover a total of $147,000 in back wages and benefits following an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division.

BOSTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division will offer a comprehensive compliance seminar for employers, representatives of community rehabilitation programs, family members and guardians of workers with disabilities and other stakeholders on rules governing the payment of workers with disabilities under Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act. 

WASHINGTON – A report released today under the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation by the U.S. Department of Labor responds to a submission filed by U.S. and Mexican labor unions and worker advocacy groups that alleges that the Mexican government has failed to meet its obligations under the NAALC with respect to a large chain of Mexican retail stores.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez issued the following statement about the June 2016 Employment Situation report released today: