Illegal activities of Southern Bosses for the weeks between Friday, May 23, and Friday, May 30
Alabama Child Sex Abuser
WAFF reports:
A Lauderdale County grand jury has indicted a former fast food manager on 26 counts of child sex abuse-related charges.
Garrett Wilkins, 38, of Florence, was arrested after being located in Salt Lake City, Utah by the US Marshals last week and was transported back to Florence.
Police say Wilkins had a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old employee.
Investigators say they discovered that the two had a sexual relationship and also exchanged explicit images and videos.
Wilkins is facing the following charges:
- 10 counts of production of obscene matter of a child under 17
- 10 counts of Possession of Obscene Material of a Child Under 17
- Two counts of Transmitting Obscene Material to a Child
- Two counts of Sexual Abuse – 2nd Degree
- Electronic Solicitation
- Enticement of a Child for Immoral Purposes
Wilkins remains in the Lauderdale County Jail on a $3.6 million bond.
It’s worth noting that, despite everyone thinking that fast food is just work for children, and despite everyone thinking that it’s appropriate for children to work in restaurants, the restaurant industry has the highest incidence rate of all other industries for sexual harassment and assault.
You can read WAFF’s full reporting on the situation here and here
Alabama Speech Punishers
AL(dot)com reports:
An employee of a nonprofit that helps resettle refugees in Alabama has lost her job after speaking out publicly against her employer’s decision to help resettle Afrikaners in the state.
Yasmeen Othman, a former employment specialist with Inspiritus, said she was fired on May 21 for speaking with AL.com for a story published the week before about the arrival of several families from South Africa in Alabama.
“I feel like it’s disrespectful to the refugees that we are assisting and helping, that are running from violence and forced displacement, to be helping this population,” she told AL.com in mid-May.
A week later Othman, 27, lost her job.
She said her employer told her it was because she violated policy by speaking to the media and because she had continued to try to convince her co-workers to resist the group’s decision to help Afrikaners.
While the Episcopalian Church decided not to help resettle the Afrikaners due to moral objections, and shuttered its decades-old resettlement efforts nationwide, Inspiritus — which is based in Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee — opted to work with the administration.
“We are mandated to serve all refugees, no matter how they arrive,” Liz Kurtz, the Alabama refugee coordinator for Inspiritus, said earlier this month.
Othman said her employer told her that they had no choice but to participate in the program in hopes that Trump would allow other refugees to resume entering the U.S. She said she felt ethically obligated to share her criticisms with the media, and so she spoke with AL.com for an article.
On May 21, Othman was fired. That day, she said a person with a local business stopped by the office and said they would like to hire Afrikaners but not non-English speaking refugees who they did not want to, “babysit,” Othman told AL.com.
She said she felt an ethical responsibility to speak up.
“Unfortunately, people think that, you know, if you fight for the right thing, that means that ‘nothing bad should happen to me. There should be no consequences.’ But unfortunately, that’s not the case,” she said. “I would definitely do it again.”
I encourage you to read the full piece here, which includes important context about the white South Africans if you aren’t familiar with the situation.
Florida Killers
The U.S. Department of Labor has cited The Salvation Army after a 54-year-old maintenance worker suffered fatal injuries following a fall while working at an Orlando donation center and store in November 2024.
An investigation by the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration found the worker was repairing a roof leak when the fall occurred on Nov. 7. OSHA cited The Salvation Army for a repeat violation of exposing workers to fall hazards. A similar citation was previously issued at the employer’s Princeton, West Virginia, location in January 2020.
OSHA also cited the company for five serious violations, including failure to assess workplace hazards, provide fall protection training, and ensure proper machine guarding. Two other-than-serious violations were issued for failing to report the fatality to OSHA within eight hours of the incident and lacking a hazard communication program.
The Salvation Army will pay $120,817 in penalties to address the violations.
Florida Thieves
The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $594,313 in back wages and damages for 419 workers after a federal investigation found a Leesburg-based employer failed to pay workers all of their required overtime wages.
An investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division determined Amtex-NMS Inc., operating as Southeast Modular Manufacturing, violated the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime provision by not paying workers time-and-a-half their regular rate for all hours over 40 in a workweek. Specifically, its rounding methods improperly reduced hours that resulted in unpaid overtime for hours worked over 40 per workweek.
Investigators also discovered the employer violated federal recordkeeping requirements by failing to maintain complete and accurate records of workers’ wages and hours.
“Some employers use a pay method referred to as rounding to produce even and balanced calculations of hours worked. While it can be a useful tool, it is the responsibility of all employers to ensure the use of rounding in their time systems is balanced and does not always round in the employer’s favor,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Vilma Bell in Orlando, Florida. “We encourage all workers and employers to contact their nearest Wage and Hour Division office with any questions regarding their rights and obligations under the law.”
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.
Here are the new filings from this week:
- Vanllee Hospitality Holdings (CA) hired LRI Consulting Services for $425/hour
- Escalante Concrete (AZ) hired Flores Labor Relations for $250/hour
- Carlos Flores is the CEO of Flores Labor Relations, a union busting firm founded in 2016 and based in Temecula, California. Prior to working for Flores Labor Relations, he was a Teamsters shop steward.
In addition, the following LM-20s were amended:
- Cummings Group amended their filing for Statewide Conditioning to add their compensation rate of $3,750/day
As a reminder, 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.