Employer name: Phoenix Products Co., 55 Container Dr., Terryville, Connecticut

Citations issued: On Jan. 19, 2016, the Hartford Area Office of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited Phoenix Products Co., for 15 serious violations of workplace safety standards.

Employer name:  Lake Compounce Family Theme Park, 822 Lake Ave., Bristol, Conn., sister company of Palace Entertainment Holdings LLC, Newport Beach, California

Citations issued:  On Jan. 15, 2016, the Hartford Area Office of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited the Lake Compounce Family Theme Park for 18 serious violations of workplace safety standards.

ANDOVER, Mass. – A Framingham contractor with a history of safety violations has again exposed its employees to potentially fatal fall hazards at one of its worksites, this time in Woburn.

Inspectors from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration found employees of A S General Construction Inc. risked falls of more than 26 feet from an unguarded roof and an improperly constructed and erected ladder-jack scaffold at the 51 Pleasant St. job site.

Employer: Escalera Landscaping Inc.

Site: 5012 Arville Street, Las Vegas, Nevada 89118

LOS ANGELES – While Southern California Sushi chefs worked up to 90 hours a week painstakingly assembling intricately crafted Godzilla rolls, sashimi assortments and other delicacies at various restaurants, the U.S. Department of Labor found their employer was cheating the chefs and other workers out of overtime pay, shaving hours off timecards and docking their pay routinely for 10-minute breaks.

ARLINGTON, Va. – Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11^th Circuit denied a challenge brought by two separate groups representing the coal industry to the final rule Lowering Miners’ Exposure to Respirable Coal Mine Dust, Including Continuous Personal Dust Monitors. The court denied the petitioners’ challenge of MSHA’s authority to issue the rule under the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977.

ATLANTA – Hotel industry workers typically earn low wages and may struggle financially to meet basic needs. When employers fail to pay them the wages they have legally earned, their struggle gets even harder.

BEREA, Ohio ‒ More than 30 workers were at-risk of amputation and other injuries daily while manufacturing nuts and bolts at a Berea factory. Federal inspectors found Telefast Industries Inc. failed to install guards and use recommended safety procedures to prevent workers from coming in contact with operating parts of machinery, violations for which inspectors previously cited the company in 2014.

Employer name: Rich Products Corp., Brownsville, Texas

Citations issued: Jan. 22, 2016

WASHINGTON – The workforce development system is the backbone of job training in the U.S. It provides millions of jobseekers and workers the opportunity to learn new skills and obtain new and better jobs. The system also serves a critical role in our nation’s labor market, bringing together workers and businesses to ensure that workers can find good jobs and that employers can find the skilled workers they need to keep business thriving.

Date of Action: Jan. 22, 2016

Type of Action: Complaint and Consent Order and Judgment

Names of Defendant: Anthony Monaco, National Production Workers Union Severance Trust Plan

Allegations: From at least Jan, 1, 2010 to April 30, 2015, the trustees of the Oak Brook, Illinois-based National Production Workers Union Severance Trust Plan had appointed Anthony Monaco to serve as Plan Manager of the Severance Plan, in such capacity he served as a fiduciary to the Severance Plan.

Date of action: Jan. 20, 2016

Type of action: Complaint

Names of defendants: Commodity Control Corp., David J. Pilger, the estate of William M. Pilger, and Commodity Control Employee Stock Ownership Plan and Trust

Employer: Chloe Apparel, Inc.

Site: 1143 East 29^th St., Los Angeles, California

Investigation findings: The employer paid straight time for overtime hours worked after 40 hours in a work week. The employer also failed to pay the proper minimum wage to a subset of workers. Both sets of violations fall under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Employer name: Subfloor Systems Inc., Hurst, Texas

Citations issued: Jan. 20, 2016

NEW YORK – All the truck driver wanted was a safe vehicle to operate. His employer fired him instead.

In so doing, Brindi Trailer Sales and Services Inc. of Meridale, New York, and owner Robert Urbina Brindi violated the anti-discrimination provisions of the Surface Transportation Assistance Act, an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has found.

CHICAGO – A federal judge has ordered a Chicago limo company to pay 34 drivers $190,716 in back wages and an equal additional amount in liquidated damages, totaling $381,432, after finding the company violated the overtime and recordkeeping provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

In the week ending January 16, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 293,000, an increase of 10,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised down by 1,000 from 284,000 to 283,000. The 4-week moving average was 285,000, an increase of 6,500 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised down by 250 from 278,750 to 278,500.

ARLINGTON, Va. – Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health Joseph A. Main today issued the following statement regarding the first three coal mining deaths of 2016:

“In just the first three weeks of 2016, and after the safest year in mining history, the coal industry has experienced three fatalities in three separate mining accidents, the highest number of coal accidents to occur in the same time period since January 2006.

Employer name: Frontier Ag Inc.

Citations received: Jan. 15, 2016

ATLANTA – When U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspectors returned to an Atlanta food manufacturing facility and found previously cited hazards had reoccurred, the management of Schwan’s Global Supply Inc. took an unusual step.