State: California

Type of Award: National Dislocated Worker Grant incremental

Incremental Amount Released: $9 million       

Total Award Amount Approved: $18 million

Funding Awarded to: California Employment Development Department

Number of Workers Served: Approximately 1,000

SEATTLE – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has ordered an Alaska aviation company to pay years of back wages, $100,000 in compensatory damages, and to reinstate a pilot who had been suspended, then fired and ostracized among the close-knit industry for reporting safety concerns at work.

Employer name: Plastics Engineering Company

Inspection site: 2732 North 15^th Street, Sheboygan, Wisconsin

Citations issued: Feb. 22, 2016

Investigation findings: The U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Appleton Area Office cited Plastic Engineering Company for one willful, five serious and one other-than-serious safety violation.

Participants: U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, West Texas Safety Training Center Inc., Odessa, Texas

Employer(s) name(s): Richmond American Homes of Colorado Inc.
d-7 Roofing LLC

Worksites: Residential housing projects in Littleton and Aurora, Colorado

Citations issued: Feb. 22, 2016

Employer: Power Services Company of Oklahoma LLC

Site: 9881 Hectorville Road, Mounds, Oklahoma

PITTSBURGH – In 2014, two U.S. Steel Corp., employees reported injuries that may have resulted from worksite incidents occurring a few days earlier. At the time of the incidents, the employees were unaware they had suffered injuries, as symptoms did not develop until later. When the workers realized and reported their injuries, U.S. Steel suspended both workers without pay for violating the company’s immediate reporting policy.

Who: U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division
Fenox Venture Capital of San Jose, California

What: Fenox wrongfully classified 56 workers, who were performing high-level jobs, as unpaid interns, the Wage and Hour Division announced today. The Silicon Valley venture capital firm will pay $331,269 in back wages and damages to the workers.

WHAT: The U.S. Department of Labor announces the availability of Homeless Veterans’ Reintegration Program funding of $13 million to provide an estimated 6,000 veterans with job-driven training for in-demand jobs to help them successfully transition from homelessness to sustainable housing and good civilian jobs. Homeless veterans may receive occupational, classroom and on-the-job training, as well as job search and placement assistance, including follow-up services.

Date of action: Feb. 1, 2016

Type of action: Decision and Order

Names of defendant: David Dzenutis dba Royal Construction Company, a roofing contractor in Canton, Connecticut.

BUFFALO, N.Y. – He took the right step, and was fired for it.

He was a demolition and asbestos abatement laborer employed by Regional Environmental Demolition Inc. at an asbestos abatement project in Buffalo from April to June 2014. At the job site at 527 West Utica St., the man observed weakened or deteriorated sections of flooring called “soft spots.” At one spot, his foot broke through the floor.

WASHINGTON – In the nipa groves that line the Philippine shore, families spend harrowing days in a desperate search for gold. Children crouch in the mud, separating gold from sediment. Meanwhile, their older siblings and parents dive deep into the marsh. Spending hours below the surface, seeking tiny flecks of the precious metal in cloudy water, drawing breath from makeshift tubes connected to small compressors. Children like Jonathon Ramorez use toxic mercury to amalgamate the gold.

Employer’s names: John Whigham Sheeting Inc.
Ezzo Construction LLC
S.A. Robinson Construction
KB Home Florida LLC

Inspection site: Abby Glen subdivision, Jacksonville, Florida 32257

Citations issued: Citations were issued to the employers on Feb. 17.

BRAINTREE, Mass. – Kevin Miranda’s death could have been prevented if his employer, Skyline Contracting and Roofing Corp. of Taunton, had followed industry and federal safety standards, an inspection by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has found.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Copper wire manufacturer Tecnofil Chenango SAC continues to expose workers at its Sherburne manufacturing plant to potential deadly or disabling injuries due to missing or inadequate safeguards for machines used in the manufacturing process, an inspection by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has found.

Date of Action:  Feb. 8, 2016

Name(s) of Defendant(s): Richard J. Kwasny
Kwasny & Reilly P.C.
Kwasny & Reilly 401 (k) Profit Sharing Plan

Employer name: Leon Ray Burkholder, doing business as Burkholder Builders, at 580 Indiantown Rd., Ephrata, Pennsylvania

Inspection site: Multi-family residential construction project at 443-447 Marlene Way in Leola.

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

Associated General Contractors Panhandle of Texas Chapter, Amarillo, Texas

Employer name: Apollo Industries Inc.

Investigation site: 1850 South Cobb Industrial Blvd., Smyrna, Georgia 30082

Investigation findings: Investigators from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division’s Atlanta District office found the employer violated overtime, minimum wage and recordkeeping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Apollo Industries is a specialty chemical contract packager.

CONCORD, N.H. – The circus tent that collapsed in Lancaster during a sudden downdraft of air called a “micro-burst” on Aug. 3, 2015, was not properly erected and the circus operator, Walker International Events, did not follow repeated National Weather Service storm warnings, an inspection by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has found.

The collapse killed two audience members and injured dozens of others, including two circus employees,