Boss Watch: 10/17 – 10/31

Jacob Morrison

Illegal activities of Southern Bosses for the weeks between Friday, October 17, and Friday, October 31

Tennessee Thieves

The Chattanooga Times Free Press reported on a wage theft lawsuit:

Chattanooga resident Phillip Dennis alleged Trident Transport did not pay him overtime when he worked more than 40 hours in a work week. For example, Dennis estimated that he worked 56 hours from Sept. 17-23, 2023, and 55 hours from Sept. 24-30, 2023, without overtime pay. Dennis was employed as an account manager and a sales manager in Chattanooga from September 2021 to October 2023.

The law firm representing Dennis, Nichols Kaster, is pursuing the Trident case as a collective action under federal law, enabling one or more people to bring claims on behalf of others.

“Trident has only recently learned of these claims,” said CEO Heath Haley in a statement. “It disputes the assertion that it has paid any employee unfairly and intends to defend itself in this action.”

Read the rest of their report, with more context and other previously settled wage theft cases in Chattanooga, here.

North Carolina Thieves

WRAL reported on a wage theft lawsuit in North Carolina: 

A lawsuit was filed this week in Durham County by three sisters who say they are owed money for working as camp counselors for CJF America. WRAL Investigates reported in August about another lawsuit that was filed by seven former employees from multiple states. WRAL has reported, for months, on the Durham-based company accused of not paying its employees, and on criminal charges against three of its executives. 

The complaint seeks unpaid wages for Briana, Jasmine and Kalia Thompson. They are represented by Raleigh attorneys Jonathan Marx and Philip Thomas, who also represent the plaintiffs in the first lawsuit.

…

WRAL Investigates emailed CJF America spokesperson Reagan Cartwright seeking a response to the lawsuit, and asking why employees had not been paid and when they would be paid. They have yet to answer.

For months, WRAL has sought interviews with CJF America executives to no avail, despite Cartwright claiming on Sept. 5 that she would be “happy to coordinate” an interview with the president, Kristen Picot.

WRAL reported last month that CJF America founder, Courtney Jordan, and Chief Financial Officer Nicholas Gallardo are facing charges of felony conspiracy and obtaining property by false pretense. Those warrants remain unserved. WRAL Investigates previously asked Durham Police what steps they are taking to find the two men. A department spokesperson said they could not disclose that information as it could jeopardize the case.

Read the rest of the station’s really good investigative work here. I left some juicy stuff out to encourage you to check it out – so few outlets do this kind of journalism, so it’s great to see it when it happens.

Heat Injuries

Jordan Barab, a former OSHA official and author of the workplace safety blog Confined Space, has a piece up on heat injuries, and how a new study illustrates that heat causes much more injury and death than it is credited for. Below is an excerpt, but I’d encourage you to read the whole piece here. 

Most people probably understand by now how dangerous it can be for workers to labor in high heat: heat stroke can kill, and heat related disease — even if it doesn’t kill you — can lead to kidney disease and other chronic health conditions.

But few people know that the hazards of heat go beyond just the common heat-related illnesses that we already know about. A recent study out of Harvard University and George Washington University, “A Nationwide Analysis of Heat and Workplace Injuries,” published October 6 in the journal Environmental Health, shows that high heat contributes to at least 27,953 excess workplace injuries each year — — slips, trips, and falls, as well as cuts and other traumatic injuries.

…

Why does high heat cause more work-related injuries?

Studies have shown that elevated temperatures can impair hand-eye coordination, cause postural instability, lead to muscular fatigue, and reduce physical reaction times. Cognitive effects of heat include reduced attention memory, information processing, and overall judgment. Put together, physiological and cognitive impairments increase the risk of workplace injuries, few of which are officially classified as “heat” injuries.

Many other studies have reached similar conclusions…

But this study was much larger than other studies — looking at 845,000 injury cases in 48 states…. This study also was able to look at whether states that have heat standards similar to OSHA’s proposal resulted in fewer heat-related injuries. (Spoiler alert: they did.)

[W]hile heat stroke and heat exhaustion are becoming increasingly well recognized, heat-related injuries are rarely reported as resulting from high heat. In fact, the authors characterize heat-related injuries as the “hidden toll,” because most heat-driven injuries are not recorded as “heat injuries” even though heat contributed to their occurrence.

Even the 28,000 heat-related injuries identified in this study are likely undercounted.  The baseline to which the injury numbers are compared is the self-reported Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) injury data which have been shown — by BLS’s own studies — to be underreported by as much as 20% to 70%.

…

We now know with much more certainty the value of strong standards.  It’s clear that strong heat standards protect workers. One recent study of the impact of California’s outdoor heat standard by the Workers Compensation Research Institute found that the standard had reduced heat-related injuries by 15-17 percent in construction, 24-27 percent in agriculture and by 19-25 percent in transportation, and that the beneficial effect was strongest at higher temperatures. Another study found that the CalOSHA heat standard had reduced overall heat-related deaths by as much as 43%.

But this is the first study to compare heat injuries in states with heat standards to states without heat standards. The study looked at several states that have standards (like California, Washington and Oregon) and found that employees in states with workplace heat exposure regulations have a lower risk of injury on hot days than workers in states with no heat standards.

The study also showed that higher temperatures were more dangerous than lower temperatures. The hotter it gets, the more likely workers are to suffer injuries. The study found that work injury risks begin to rise when the heat index reaches around 85°F and increase sharply after 90°F. And on a 105°F and 110°F days the odds were about 15% and 20% higher compared to an 80 °F day, respectively.

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:

  • 3M Springfield (MO) hired Lewis Labor Relations
  • Long Island Jewish Medical Center (NY) hired Heightened Solutions for $475/hour 
  • Amazon DAX7 (CA) hired Keith Williams as a sub-contractor for RoadWarrior Productions for $2,200/day
    • Flagging that this is the first filing for this facility

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

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.