Employer name: Marine Builders, Inc.

Inspection site: 5821 Utica Pike, Jeffersonville, Indiana

Citations issued: March 1, 2016

Investigation findings: The U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s cited Marine Builders Inc. for one repeat, eight serious and three other-than-serious safety violations.

MONTGOMERYVILLE, Pa. – On July 11, 2014, a worker at Lloyd Industries’ Montgomeryville plant suffered the amputation of three fingers after a machine without safety guards crushed his hand. The company, a leading manufacturer of fire dampers and HVAC products, fired him immediately after the incident.

Employer name: D.S. Meyer Enterprises LLC, 34 Maple Ave. Waldwick, New Jersey  

Site: 45 Waterview Blvd., Parsippany, New Jersey

Citations issued: On Feb. 29, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Parsippany Area Office issued citations for five serious and one willful violation.

Employer name: Continental Construction Group, 177 North Common St., Lynn, Massachusetts

Citations issued: Five repeat and two serious citations.

Date of Action: March 8, 2016

Name(s) of Defendants: Encorium Group Inc., formerly a global clinical research company

Employer name: Safeway Packaging Inc.

Inspection site: 300 White Mountain Drive, New Bremen, Ohio

Citations issued: March 3, 2016

Investigation findings: The U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Toledo Area Office cited Safeway Packaging Inc. for two repeated and three serious safety violations.

KILN, Miss. – When followed, safety standards save lives and painful injuries. In the construction industry, ignoring them can lead to disaster as it did for 54-year-old Gary Berthelot.

State: Texas

Type of Award: National Dislocated Worker Grant, Supplemental

Award Amount Approved/Released: $625,000

Funding Awarded to: Texas Workforce Commission

Number of Workers Served: Approximately 115

Date of Action: March 07, 2016

Type of Action: Complaint

Name of Defendants: Horizon NR LLC, Lance Sogan, Horizon NR LLC Employee Savings Plan and Trust

State: Massachusetts

Type of Award: National Dislocated Worker Grant, Supplemental

Supplemental Amount Released: $67,683

Initial Award Amount Approved: $1,222,904

Funding Awarded to: Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development

Number of Workers Served: Approximately 56

Employer name: Mega Construction Co. Inc.

Inspection site: 24543 Alex Court, Daphne, Alabama 36526
10650 Ahern Drive, Daphne, Alabama 36526

Citations issued: Citations were issued to the employer on March 4, 2016.

SCOTT, La. – While Billy’s Boudin & Cracklins food preparers were mixing rice, meat and seasoning to make the company’s popular Cajun sausage, their employer was cooking the books. Instead of paying workers the wages they legally earned, investigators from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division found that the owners were using those unpaid wages to lower their costs and increase profits.

MOBILE, Ala. – The U.S. Department of Labor has filed a lawsuit against Lear Corp., doing business as Renosol Seating LLC, and three of its managers for suspending and terminating employees who reported workplace hazards in violation of the Occupational Safety and Health Act.

Who: U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Aurora office
Waubonsee Community College

What: OSHA Safety Day Training Conference

When: Wednesday, March 16, 8 a.m.-3 p.m. CDT

Where: Waubonsee Community College
Route 47 at Waubonsee Drive
Sugar Grove, IL

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

FALLS CITY, Neb. – A truck driver fired for refusing to drive a company vehicle pulled from service by the Iowa Department of Transportation is owed $55,000 in back wages, damages and compensation from his employer, the finding of a U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigation.

In the week ending February 27, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 278,000, an increase of 6,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 272,000. The 4-week moving average was 270,250, a decrease of 1,750 from the previous week's unrevised average of 272,000.

AMES, Iowa – In “college towns” like the city of Ames, hospitality industry jobs are often filled by students, temporary, or foreign workers – many of whom are new to the workforce. Among the nation’s lowest paid workers, they are often unfamiliar with wage laws and their rights.  Language barriers, fear of retaliation, and fears about immigration status can also cause them to be among those least likely to exercise their rights, leaving them vulnerable to labor violations.

Employer: Kazu Construction LLC

Type of Action: Fair Labor Standards Act Lawsuit    

Names of Defendants: Kazu Construction LLC Vernon Lowry, owner

LOS ANGELES – In downtown Los Angeles, as dozens of workers constructed a new affordable housing complex for veterans and chronically homeless individuals in MacArthur Park, their employers were cheating them out of lawfully earned wages in 2015.