State: Wisconsin

Type of Award: National Emergency Grant incremental funding

Employers Experiencing Layoffs: American TV; C&D Technologies Inc.; Caterpillar Global Mining LLC; Deaconess Home Health Inc.; FIS; Joy Global Inc.; Kindred Transitional Care and Rehabilitation; Kohl's Department Stores Inc.; Rock-Tenn Co.; the Social Development Commission; The Oilgear Co.; Tramont Corp.

Incremental Award Released: $659,640

WASHINGTON — More than 9 million people are released from more than 3,000 county jails nationwide each year, many with few job skills and little prospect for employment. Without a strong support system or a steady job, many former inmates commit new crimes and end up back in jail — a cycle of incarceration that persists across the country. The U.S.

Date of Action: Dec. 23, 2014

Type of Action: Complaint

Names of Defendants: Michael Omstead Smith; Aware Environmental Inc.; and the Aware Environmental Inc. 401(k) Profit Sharing Plan and Trust

LAS VEGAS — The U.S. District Court in Nevada has ordered a Las Vegas-based telemarketing company to pay $280,000 in minimum wage and overtime back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages to 398 employees for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The consent judgment resolves a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Labor against Intelliconnect Communications LLC, owners Brenda Portela and Stephanie Meehan, and S&M Management Services Inc., a successor employer.

PORTLAND, Ore. — A federal court has ordered local developer David Emami and three of his affiliated companies to pay 33 Portland-area employees $512,290 in unpaid wages and liquidated damages. The U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon agreed with a U.S. Department of Labor investigation that found that Emami and companies Oak Grove Cinemas Inc., Barrington Management LLC and Barrington Venture LLC willfully violated the overtime and record-keeping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

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.

Employer name: Northrop Grumman Corp.

Inspection site: Lake Charles, La.

Date inspection initiated and what prompted the inspection: The inspection began August 2014 as the result of a complaint, but was expanded to also address the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's National Emphasis Program for Hexavalent Chromium.

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.

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 — 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.