Boss Watch: 2/14 – 2/21

Jacob Morrison

There continues to be no new enforcement actions or resolutions of enforcement actions at the EEOC, OSHA, MSHA, and DOL, but we do have a few news reports!

Texas Killer

On August 1, an electrician working as a contractor at the Tesla plant in Texas died on the job while inspecting electrical panels. The family subsequently filed a wrongful death lawsuit, claiming alleging “negligence and argu[ing] that the panel was supposed to be inactive but had already been powered up, resulting in Gomez’s electrocution” according to Reuters. 

Reuters also reports that OSHA began an investigation immediately following the death of the worker – that was before Trump took office on the back of hundreds of millions of dollars from Musk. The investigation concluded in late January, but the Labor Department is now refusing to list the workplace safety failures or disclose whether any penalties were imposed. 

This is not typical. As is evidenced by our many Boss Watch entries before Trump took office, the results of the investigations are typically public – and often even the allegations are made public before the case is concluded. Even at Tesla, OSHA fined the company for multiple issues just last year and you can look at the cases online right now. Those violations involved lacking protections from chemical hazards. 
Texas Representative Greg Casar, a Democrat who represents the district that the plant is located in, is demanding the results of the investigation be made public, saying on Twitter: “An electrician’s death cannot be ignored simply because the CEO he was working for is Elon Musk. I’m demanding the release of the results of the investigation into the death of Victor Joe Gomez Sr., who was electrocuted while working at Elon’s Gigafactory in my district.”

Alabama Killer

The Washington Post has an incredibly detailed piece about an Alabama lumber mill that has been featured in Boss Watch before (you can find that here). 

Here’s the piece, I encourage yall to read it in full.

According to the piece, this was the most dangerous workplace in America – and folks only made $9/hr while they were there, despite working for one of the “most wealthy families in East Alabama.” “At least 28 employees had reported injuries since 2010, at a company with only about 50 people on the payroll at a time. Three had died. A medical examiner’s report detailed how just 23 pounds of one employee was recovered after he was caught in a machine.”

Despite millions of dollars in fines from OSHA, the federal workplace safety agency didn’t have the authority to demand the business stop. What ultimately cause the business to go into bankruptcy was not their wanton disregard for the lives of their workers, but the fact that in addition to that they were stealing water from the City of Phenix. Because of this, the city was able to revoke the company’s business license (admittedly, they city seemed to imply that part of their motivation to pursue this so aggressively was the safety violations). 

Amazingly, attorneys for the company argued against this at a city council meeting, saying “the city’s cease-and-desist letter was ‘not a pro-business decision.’ He said Phenix Lumber had ‘hired folks that other folks won’t hire.’ Now, those people would be out of work, and Christmas was right around the corner. If word got out about what city leaders did to Phenix Lumber, he said, he doubted other companies would come to town.”

Instead of rotting in jail, like these bosses deserve, they filed for bankruptcy and will likely have many of their $50M in debts wiped away.

Defenders of Alabama Discriminators

Despite the fact that the EEOC has issued no new enforcement actions against employers engaging in discrimination, they have walked back at least one previous enforcement action in Alabama. 

This previous enforcement action, taken in June and which was featured in Boss Watch here, alleged that Harmony Hospitality LLC, which owns the Home2Suites by Hilton hotel in Dothan fired an employee “on account of his sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and failure to adhere to male gender stereotypes.” Specifically, this employee – who even dressed in a way that conformed to male stereotypes during their normal working hours – showed up to a work meeting outside of normal working hours with pink nails and wearing braids and capris. Only seven hours after the meeting, the employee was fired. 

Despite this clearly being discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, failure to adhere to male gender stereotypes, etc. (which is a clear violation of the law), the EEOC has now filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

Union Busters

Brought to you by LaborLab: The nation’s leading watchdog standing with working families to stop employer coercion and intimidation. Visit www.laborlab.us for more info.

In addition, the following LM-20s were amended:

Due to a lack of enforcement, some labor relations consultants may disregard the law and fail to report their activities to the U.S. Department of Labor. Therefore, it’s crucial for organizers and workers to report suspected “persuader” activity to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS).

It’s crucial for organizers and workers to report suspected “persuader” activity to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS). You can reach them via email at  OLMS-Public@dol.gov, by calling (202) 693-0123, or by contacting your nearest OLMS District Office.

For assistance, please contact LaborLab at contact@laborlab.us.