Illegal activities of Southern Bosses for the weeks between Friday, February 2 and Friday, February 9
—ALABAMA KILLER—
From AL.com:
The U.S. Department of Labor has fined a company $117,175 in connection with the 2019 death of a 15-year-old who plunged 50 feet from a worksite on his first day on the job. According to the DOL, Apex Roofing & Restoration paid the penalties after investigators determined that Apex Roofing & Restoration of Pelham violated child labor laws in employing the teen.
The incident happened on July 1, 2019 as the teen was working on the roof of a Cullman Casting Corp. building. According to investigators, the worker fell, suffering fractures of the wrist, skull and ribs, among other severe injuries.
The teen was pronounced dead at the scene of the incident.
According to the DOL, the teen was employed in violation of a law that prohibits workers under the age of 18 from engaging in dangerous jobs, including roofing or construction operations.
“Apex Roofing risked the life of a child by employing him to work on a roof in violation of federal child labor laws, leaving relatives and friends to grieve an unnecessary and preventable tragedy,” Wage and Hour Administrator Jessica Looman said. “The Wage and Hour Division will continue using every tool at our disposal to combat illegal child labor and hold violators accountable.”
Apex Roofing, through a spokesperson, said it was “truly heartbroken” by the death.”
“The tragic incident occurred when a subcontractor’s worker brought his sibling to a worksite without Apex’s knowledge or permission,” the spokesperson said. “Apex has a long-standing policy prohibiting any form of child labor. In addition, since that accident, Apex has implemented a number of measures to further strengthen job site security and safety. Our hearts are with this family and any family who suffers a loss.”
Federal investigators have issued several fines in recent years for child labor violations in Alabama, particularly in the auto industry. Both SL Alabama and JK USA, an Opelika temporary employment agency, paid fines in 2023 from federal court and the Alabama Department of Labor, after investigators found workers as young as 13 employed in one factory.
Last year, the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour division found child labor violations in more than 950 investigations, resulting in more than $8 million in penalties.
—ANOTHER ALABAMA KILLER—
During the peak of summer in July 2023, a 33-year-old concrete finisher collapsed at a Huntsville construction site after showing clear signs of heat illness, a tragedy that federal safety investigators found could have been prevented had the employer followed established safety practices for heat hazards.
An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration into the July 28, 2023, fatality found workers of SJ&L General Contractor LLC were hand forming concrete curbs when – as the heat index neared 107 degrees and humidity climbed to 85 percent – the worker was seen by coworkers stumbling, talking incoherently and eventually vomiting before becoming unresponsive. Though employees provided first aid and paramedics transported the worker to the hospital, the worker died only two hours after being admitted.
OSHA investigators determined that SJ&L General Contractor LLC exposed this worker and 18 other employees to hazards of extreme heat while working outside in direct sun during their 10-hour shifts.
OSHA determined SJ&L General Contractor LLC exposed workers to hazards associated with high heat while working in direct sunlight. The employer faces $16,131 in proposed penalties, an amount set by federal statute.
Increasing summer temperatures continue to impact workers. Fatalities due to exposure to extreme temperatures increased 18.6 percent in 2022, rising to 51 from 43 in 2021. Fatalities specifically due to environmental heat were 43 in 2022, up from 36 in 2021.
—FLORIDA KILLER—
U.S. Department of Labor safety investigators have found that a Melbourne rental crane service provider could have prevented the electrocution of a 34-year-old crane operator at a Palm Bay work site in August 2023 by ensuring required safety measures were in place and followed.
Investigators with the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration instead found that on Aug. 23, 2023, Capt’n Hook’s Crane Service Inc. sent an uncertified crane operator to a residential construction project alone to lift and place metal frame roof trusses at a residential construction project. After positioning the crane on an unpaved driveway and extending the boom to complete the first lift, the operator was electrocuted when the steel wire rope and chain rigging, suspended from the crane boom, contacted two 13,200-volt power lines next to the residential property.
OSHA cited Capt’n Hook’s Crane Service for three serious violations for using an uncertified crane operator and operating a hydraulic crane within 20-feet of overhead powerlines. The employer also failed to ensure the crane was positioned on a stable foundation by utilizing adequate cribbing, materials meant to support the outriggers of the crane at a greater height.
The agency also cited the employer for two other-than-serious violations for not labeling and marking rigging equipment and failing to ensure warning labels on the hydraulic crane were legible.
The agency proposed $26,585 in penalties for the employer.
Construction safety standards that prevent workplace accidents involving mobile, overhead and rail-mounted cranes are industry standards; they were enacted following a high rate of accidents and fatalities related to crane operation in the construction industry. The department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 12 crane operators died in 2022.
—DISHONORABLE MENTIONS—
The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $184,139 in back wages and liquidated damages for 56 seasonal guest workers and U.S. workers of Sails Restaurant in Tampa, FL after finding multiple violations of federal nonimmigrant work program regulations and federal minimum wage and overtime regulations.
The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $200,000 for a former Cobb & Douglas Public Health worker in Atlanta, GA after the county agency violated the worker’s rights to protected leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act.
The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $547,378 in back wages and liquidated damages for 139 employees of Ian Construction – a federal construction contractor – in Guam who shortchanged them in violation of federal labor laws AGAIN – the DOL found they violated the law in 2012, 2016, and 2021.
U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigators found that Boatwright Farms paid 106 US workers in Steele, AL less than similar H2A immigrant workers in violation of the law stating that immigrant workers cannot be given preference over US workers. The division recovered $8,862 in back wages for 106 workers and assessed $9,970 in civil money penalties to the employer.
Walmart agreed to pay $30,000 and provide other relief to settle charges of sexual harassment in an EEOC lawsuit, specifically that a DeFuniak Springs, FL worker was harassed verbally and physically, reported the harassment, and Walmart failed to action.
Affordable Home Furnishings in Baton Rouge, LA has agreed to pay a former employee $105,000 to settle a race discrimination lawsuit alleging that a white manager repeatedly used the N word and then fired a black worker who reported the slurs.
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