Illegal activities of Southern Bosses for the weeks between Friday, October 4, and Friday, October 11
Georgia Retaliators
A federal administrative law judge has ruled that CSX Transportation Inc., a subsidiary of one of the nation’s largest transportation companies, must pay a total of $453,510 to two railroad workers who were wrongfully terminated for exercising their federally protected rights to report workplace safety concerns. The company must also reinstate the workers.
The decision by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Administrative Law Judges follows a whistleblower investigation by the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration of CSX Transportation’s actions in November 2017 after the workers reported a blue flag on the tracks at a Waycross, Georgia, railyard, signaling they could not move their train safely. In response, the company removed them from the assignment and later fired them. OSHA determined CSX’s response violated federal protections for workers raising safety issues.
“The Federal Railroad Safety Act protects workers’ rights to report safety concerns without fear of retaliation. When employers like CSX Transportation retaliate against workers for raising safety concerns, they create an environment of fear that can lead to dangerous and sometimes deadly situations,” said OSHA Regional Administrator Kurt Petermeyer in Atlanta. “The workers did what they were supposed to – they saw that the tracks were deemed unsafe, they communicated the issue, and waited for further instructions. Despite following protocol, they were fired for the delay. This retaliatory behavior is unacceptable.”
The sum cited in the judge’s order includes $248,856 in back wages plus compound daily interest, $100,000 for emotional distress and $100,000 for punitive damages for the two workers. CSX Transportation must also pay one of the workers $4,654 for the health insurance premiums paid after their termination.
CSX Transportation must also reinstate the workers to their previous positions and seniority had they not suffered the wrongful termination and pay their reasonable attorney’s fees and litigation expenses.
The decision is the latest of several in which federal officials have found CSX Transportation violating federal whistleblower regulations and retaliating against workers who reported safety concerns. In July 2021, OSHA ordered the employer to pay $221,976 in back wages, interest and damages to a worker terminated similarly in New Orleans. In October 2020, OSHA ordered CSX to reinstate an employee and pay more than $95,000 in back wages and $75,000 in punitive damages after an employee in Rebecca, Georgia, reported an unsafe customer gate and an on-the-job injury. Similar whistleblower investigations at a locomotive shop in 2016 and at a dispatch office in 2010 in Selkirk, New York, led to reinstatements and payment of back wages and damages to employees.
Kentucky Thieves
The U.S. Department of Labor has reached an agreement with a Glasgow-based chain of restaurants requiring the enterprise to pay $250,000 in penalties – and to take steps to ensure future compliance with federal child labor laws – after investigators learned that the enterprise employed a child under the legal working age and employed 37 other teens to work more hours than the law permits.
This settlement follows an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division that determined El Mazatlan Inc. violated federal child labor regulations by employing 37 children, ages 14 and 15 years old, to work longer and later than the Fair Labor Standards Act allows. El Mazatlan also employed a 13-year-old child, which is under the legal age limit.
In addition to paying penalties, El Mazatlan agreed to future compliance and to create and update child labor training materials in their management training program. The employer will also conduct training with all supervisors and managers.
“Learning new skills in the workforce is an important part of growing up – but we must protect children and ensure their first jobs do not interfere with their education or well-being,” explained Wage and Hour Division District Director Karen Garnett-Civils in Louisville, Kentucky. “The Fair Labor Standards Act allows for developmental experiences but restricts the hours and occupations of workers under age 16 and provides for penalties when employers do not follow the law.”
In addition to the child labor violations, the division found El Mazatlan illegally deducted the costs of uniforms from the wages of servers, causing their wages to drop below the federal minimum wage. The employer also failed to pay overtime to three salaried employees who were not exempt from the FLSA’s overtime requirements. After its investigation, the division recovered $50,233 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages for 168 employees.
“We found El Mazatlan liable for significant penalties as well as back wages and damages totaling more than $350,000,” Garnett-Civils explained. “The Wage and Hour Division is committed to protecting workers’ rights and holding employers accountable when they fail to pay employees in compliance with the law.”
Tennessee Child Endangerers
The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a federal consent decree requiring a Clarkrange lumber producer to stop violating federal child labor regulations, pay penalties for their violations and surrender profits earned for products made while violations occurred.
Entered in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee on July 15, 2024, the consent decree comes after the department’s Wage and Hour Division found Plateau Sawmill LLC employed two children – as young as 14-years-old – at the sawmill to unload wooden boards from a conveyor belt in violation of the child labor provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. In addition, the sawmill employed a 13-year-old, which violated the FLSA’s minimum age standard of 14 years for non-agricultural work. Investigators learned the three children worked as early as 6 a.m., an hour earlier than the law permits.
The sawmill operator was ordered to pay $73,847 in civil money penalties for its child labor violations. The sawmill operator was also ordered to surrender $10,000 in profits earned between May 26 and June 26, 2024. These funds will be used to benefit the children employed illegally.
“Federal labor laws protect children from being employed in dangerous jobs. By employing minors to do hazardous work, Plateau Sawmill put children at risk of serious harm or worse,” said Wage and Hour Regional Administrator Juan Coria in Atlanta. “Once we learned of the employer’s violations, the Department of Labor acted immediately to hold the company accountable for failing to protect these children.”
In addition to paying civil money penalties, disgorging profits and agreeing to comply with federal child labor regulations in the future, Plateau Sawmill agreed to do the following:
- Audit machinery at all of its establishments to identify equipment deemed hazardous by the FLSA, and mark the identified equipment with stickers to alert employees that no one under 18 can operate it.
- Review and enhance existing policies and training materials related to compliance with federal child labor regulations. The employer must also revise its policies, training materials and programs for management, employees and new hires as it on-boards them at any owned establishment.
- Impose disciplinary sanctions to include termination or suspension for any manager responsible for child labor violations or retaliation against any employee reporting suspected violations.
- Allow unannounced and warrantless inspections for five years.
- Refrain from taking retaliatory actions against employees, including family members, for filing a complaint related to FLSA concerns.
“This consent decree holds Plateau Sawmill accountable while also discouraging future violations,” said Regional Solicitor Tremelle Howard in Atlanta. “We’ve seen an alarming rise of child labor violations in recent years across the nation. The action announced today sends a clear message that we will not tolerate companies profiting on the backs of children employed unlawfully in dangerous occupations.”
In fiscal year 2023, the department investigated 955 cases with child labor violations, involving 5,792 children nationwide, including 502 children employed in violation of hazardous occupation standards. The department addressed those violations by assessing employers more than $8 million in civil money penalties.
Georgia Discriminators
The U.S. Department of Labor has announced Ball Container LLC, a subsidiary of Ball Corp., has entered into a conciliation agreement in which the employer will pay $309,000 in back wages and interest to resolve alleged race-based hiring discrimination at the company’s beverage manufacturing facility in Rome.
A routine compliance review by the department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs found that, from Feb. 1, 2020, through Jan. 31, 2021, the employer discriminated against 192 Black applicants for production technician positions at the facility. The agency determined Ball Container’s actions violated Executive Order 11246, which prohibits federal contractors from discriminating in employment based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or national origin.
In addition to paying back wages and interest, Ball Container agreed to provide four job offers to eligible class members when positions become available, review and revise its hiring process and provide training to all managers, supervisors and other company officials involved in the hiring process.
“Discrimination is preventable when employers have nondiscriminatory hiring procedures in place and see to it that they are followed,” said Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs Acting Director Michele Hodge. “OFCCP will use every action available by law to ensure workers and job seekers are treated fairly, and that everyone has access to good paying jobs.”
“Federal contractors that fail to give equal consideration to all applicants – regardless of gender, race or ethnicity – violate the law,” said Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs Acting Southeast Regional Director Diana Sen in Atlanta. “There is no gray area for federal contractors, as regulations require them to ensure equal opportunity for all workers and compliance with federal employment laws.”
Dishonorable Mentions
- The EPA announced that Argos Puerto Rico Corp., owner and operator of a cement manufacturing plant in Dorado, Puerto Rico, reached an agreement to settle Clean Air Act violations, pay a $111,000 penalty and spend more than $200,000 in Supplemental Environmental Projects, known as SEPs, to install solar energy at a nearby school and childcare facility. The investigation found that Argos violated several parts of the Clean Air Act Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) standards for cement manufacturers. Specifically, Argos did not meet the standards for dioxins and furans emissions for 130 days, total hydrocarbon testing for one day, and mercury emissions monitoring for 19 days. Additionally, Argos failed to comply with reporting requirements 12 times.
- The EPA recently reached settlements with over a dozen companies across Georgia for alleged violations of the asbestos requirements of the Clean Air Act (CAA). Alleged violations include the failure to conduct a thorough inspection for asbestos-containing materials prior to beginning demolition or renovation activities and failure to provide written notice at least ten (10) days prior to beginning demolition activity. The fines ranged from $195 to $8,223.
- An investigation by the U.S. DOL’s Wage and Hour Division determined Wonder City Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Virginia violated federal law when it failed to pay the health and welfare benefits of two employees, provide paid sick leave to 11 employees and maintain accurate records, in violation of the McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act and Executive Order 13706, “Establishing Paid Sick Leave for Federal Contractors.” The Department recovered $22,923 in health and welfare benefits for two employees and $1,860 in paid sick leave for eight employees and 24.67 hours of paid sick leave restored for three employees.
- The U.S. DOL recovered $154,009 in back wages and liquidated damages from Primex Plastics Corp – an international plastics manufacturer in Georgia – that willfully failed to include bonus payments when calculating overtime for 743 workers. The consent decree also required the employer to pay $128,589 in civil money penalties to the department for the willful nature of the violations.
- The U.S. DOL has obtained a court order assessing the operator of a Rosedale, Louisiana farm $12,000 in civil money penalties and preventing the Louisiana employers from applying for H-2A certification to bring foreign workers to the U.S. to fill temporary or seasonal agricultural jobs for one year, after investigators found the farm’s operator intimidated and threatened workers in violation of the law.
- The U.S. DOL announced today that its Mine Safety and Health Administration completed impact inspections at 14 mines in 10 states in August 2024, issuing 253 violations.
- A huge chemical explosion happened at a BioLab Inc swimming pool and spa water treatment facility in Conyers, GA, outside Atlanta. Owned by private equity company Centerbridge, BioLab has seen several safety incidents recently, and two months ago, instead of investing in their facilities, they paid investors nearly 850M, according to the American Prospect. This most recent incident causes 17,000 residents to be ordered to evacuate and another 90,000 to shelter in place. Some residents are already reporting adverse reactions like shortness of breath