Boss Watch: 9/12 – 9/26

Jacob Morrison

Illegal activities of Southern Bosses for the weeks between Friday, September 12, and Friday, September 26

Florida Endangerers

Following two federal safety inspections, the U.S. Department of Labor has cited a Jacksonville roofing contractor with 10 safety violations for willfully exposing workers to fall hazards by not requiring them to wear fall protection while working at least six feet above a lower level, leading to over $700,000 in proposed penalties.

On March 18, 2025, the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration initiated an investigation at an Elo Restoration LLC Jacksonville worksite – operating as Elo Roofing. Two weeks later, OSHA initiated a separate investigation at an Elo Roofing site in St. Johns after learning a worker sustained injuries and required hospitalization after falling through a residential roof while removing skylight fixtures.

The agency determined the worksite did not install guardrails, safety nets, or personal fall arrest systems, and employees were not provided with alternative fall protection measures.

Elo Restoration LLC was cited with four willful, three repeat, a serious, and two other-than-serious citations, totaling $752,846 in proposed penalties.

Georgia Harassers

Action Insulation Co., a general contractor specializing in insulation installation and asbestos abatement in Port Wentworth, Georgia, agreed to pay $40,000 to settle a sexual harassment and constructive discharge lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

The EEOC suit said Action Insulation’s owner subjected a female office manager to sexual harassment, including by making unwanted sexual comments and jokes, showing her lewd photographs, slapping her buttocks, pulling her hair, and touching her in an unwanted manner. The agency said the office manager resisted the owner’s advances and complained twice to her supervisor, but the company failed to take any action to stop the harassment. According to the suit, the office manager was left with no choice but to resign after the harassment escalated to physical assault.

The company’s alleged conduct violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits sexual harassment in employment. The EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia, Savannah Division, after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.

The three-year consent decree settling the suit requires Action Insulation to provide monetary relief to the employee; revise and redistribute its anti-harassment policies; provide anti-harassment training to its employees; and post a notice in the workplace informing employees of the settlement and of their rights against discrimination. Furthermore, the company will provide the EEOC with periodic reports regarding complaints of sexual harassment.

Virginia Harassers

Virginia International Terminals, LLC (VIT), a marine terminal operator headquartered in Norfolk, will pay $20,000 and furnish other relief to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

According to the suit, the employee worked at VIT-operated Norfolk International Terminals driving a hustler truck, which moves shipping containers around Norfolk International Terminals at a maximum speed of 20 mph. The driver was hospitalized because of a cardiac event and received an implantable cardioverter defibrillator. The EEOC alleged that after his procedure, VIT violated federal anti-discrimination law by refusing to allow him back to work as a hustler driver, even though he received a medical release, and instead offered lower-paying work.

The lawsuit also charged that VIT violated the law when it assumed the employee would pose a safety risk and imposed restrictions excluding him from working in certain categories of jobs. This assumption was made without conducting an individualized analysis to determine whether or not he could perform the job without posing a direct threat to himself or others.

The conduct alleged in the EEOC’s lawsuit violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which prohibits employment discrimination because of a disability. The EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Norfolk Division, after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its voluntary conciliation process.

In addition to paying monetary damages, the three-year consent decree resolving the lawsuit requires VIT to update its policies to assure compliance with the ADA, train key personnel, post an employee notice, and submit periodic compliance reports to the EEOC.

North Carolina Discriminators

Piedmont Cheerwine Bottling Company, a North Carolina-based soft drink company with a facility in Colfax, North Carolina, violated federal law when it required an employee to undergo a medical examination and discharged her because of a disability, according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

According to the lawsuit, a former Cheerwine employee took medication for her disability, which had a side effect of deterioration in her hip cartilage, resulting in a limp while she walked. She worked as a store merchandiser for almost six weeks when, in March 2023, the company required her to submit to a medical examination, weeks earlier than other probationary employees because of her disability. Even though the employee met the physical requirements of the position, Cheerwine placed her on unpaid leave and told her to obtain a complete medical clearance before returning. On March 30, 2023, the employee submitted a note from her doctor clearing her to work, but Cheerwine rejected the note and terminated her employment.

Such alleged conduct violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which prohibits discrimination in hiring, firing and other employment actions because of an individual’s disability. The EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its administrative conciliation process. The EEOC seeks monetary damages for the employee, including compensatory and punitive damages, and injunctive relief against the employer to prevent such unlawful conduct in the future.

Florida Discriminators

Enterprise Leasing Company of Florida, LLC, which operates National, Enterprise and Alamo car rental services in Florida, will pay $1.8 million and provide significant non-monetary relief to settle a federal age discrimination lawsuit, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced today.

In its lawsuit, the EEOC charged that Enterprise failed to hire candidates aged 40 or older for its management trainee position from at least 2019 to the present. While approximately 15% of the applications the company received for the position were submitted by applicants age 40 or above, these workers represented less than 3% of all hires. The EEOC identified over 125 witnesses who could testify that they were asked their age or graduation year during the interview process; were told by company hiring officials that most candidates were fresh out of college; were discouraged from pursuing the position; or were subjected to other age-related comments.

“Over a third of the adult workforce in the United States is age 50 or older,” said EEOC Regional Attorney Kristen Foslid. “Employers cannot overlook qualified applicants simply because of their age.”

Such alleged conduct violates the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). The EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. Enterprise Leasing Company of Florida, LLC, Civil Action No.: 0:23-61744) in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Fort Lauderdale Division after first attempting to reach a voluntary pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.

In addition to providing monetary relief to the class of older applicants, the three-year consent decree requires Enterprise to implement sweeping injunctive relief, including implementing new ADEA policies, yearly ADEA training, posting of a notice about the lawsuit, and mandatory investigations of all complaints of age discrimination. Enterprise also agreed to extensive bi-annual reporting provisions, including an applicant tracking system, which will require the company to provide accurate data to the EEOC about its hiring decisions. Finally, as part of this agreement, Enterprise will maintain an Ethics Hotline, which can be found on the company’s webpage in the Code of Conduct, where all applicants and employees can report complaints of discrimination.

Alabama Discriminators

Bollinger Shipyards, LLC, a provider of marine construction, repair and conversion services employing more than 300 workers at 10 shipyards located across the Mississippi and Louisiana coasts, violated federal law by excluding an employee from work because she used a prescription medication to treat opioid dependency, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit announced today.

The EEOC charged that Bollinger placed the worker on involuntary indefinite unpaid leave in April 2024 from her position as a shipfitter at the company’s facility in Pascagoula, Mississippi, after it learned of her prescription. Bollinger excluded the worker even though the worker had performed her role safely and competently. The agency alleged that the employee, who was recovering from opioid dependency, used her medication lawfully under her physician’s supervision and was qualified to continue performing her job.

Marsha Rucker, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Birmingham District, said, “As the federal agency charged with enforcement of the Americans with Disabilities Act, we will vigorously enforce that indispensable law and will act when companies make discriminatory decisions based on generalized fears or stereotypical assumptions about individuals with disabilities.”

Such alleged conduct violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which guarantees equal employment opportunity to individuals with disabilities. The ADA’s prohibition against disability discrimination prohibits an employer from excluding an employee because of their disability or their treatment unless the employee creates a significant risk of substantial harm to the health or safety of the worker or others, unless it would cause an undue hardship for the employer.

The EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi (EEOC v. Bollinger Shipyards, LLC, Civil Action No. 1:25-cv-00288) after attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process. The EEOC seeks monetary damages including back pay, compensatory damages and punitive damages, as well as injunctive relief designed to prevent such unlawful conduct in the future.

“Gainful employment supports individuals recovering from addiction,” said EEOC Birmingham District Director Bradley Anderson. “The EEOC is committed to ensuring that such workers receive all of the protections that federal law provides.”

Killed on the Job

Workers die on the job every day in the United States – 100 workers every week. Frustratingly, most of these deaths are preventable, but they are often not investigated due to underfunding at OSHA, and often the community doesn’t even know it’s happened. Even though OSHA is even more hamstrung than before, there is sometimes a small news story whenever someone dies at work because it’s such a terrible thing to happen in a community. 

On the Confined Space Newsletter – set up by Jordan Barab, a former OSHA official – they compile as many news stories on worker deaths as he can find every week. In addition to this newsletter, they regularly host commentary and analysis pieces about labor and workplace safety. You can find it all at jordanbarab.com/confinedspace

This week, they found 30 stories of deaths on the job, including 10 from the South. 

Here are some lowlights:

San Antonio, TX – A man is dead after a jet engine fell on him at Port SA on the Southwest Side. It happened around 4:40 p.m. Friday at General Hudnell Drive and Warner Circle. Police tell us a man in his 70’s was helping a coworker move the engine on a dolly in the loading dock area. He tried reaching for something, the dolly started rolling and knocked him off the dock. The engine fell on top of him, killing him. The San Antonio Fire Department said the victim was dead when they arrived. Police are calling this a “freak workplace accident” and say the engine weighed more than 2.5 tons.

Knoxville, TN — The Knox County Sheriff’s Office and the Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration are investigating the death of a 24-year-old man at a West Knox County construction site Thursday night. KCSO said the Major Crimes Unit was called to a construction site off Lovell Road after receiving a report of a 24-year-old man getting pinned by an excavator against a rock bucket and suffering life-threatening injuries. KCSO said the man was transported to the hospital where he died from his injuries.

Lindsay, VA ­— An electrician died last week following an accident at the construction site of Lindsay Manufacturing’s new galvanizing facility. On Sept. 11, a 37-year-old man was transported from Lindsay Manufacturing to Boone County Hospital in Albion, where he was pronounced dead, according to Platte County Sheriff Ed Wemhoff. The sheriff said the death investigation was turned over to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. An obituary indicated that the man involved in the accident was Anthony Aulner of Blue Hill. Aulner was working for Interstates, an electrical and automation business with its headquarters in Sioux Center, Iowa.

You can read the rest here.

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:

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). 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.