Every day across the south workers are killed on the job, stolen from, discriminated against, or sexually harassed. Sometimes the employers are caught. These are last week’s stories, this is Boss Watch.
Florida Endangerers
The U.S. Department of Labor has cited a Florida roofing company for willfully putting workers at risk of falling at residential construction sites.
Investigators with the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration found that on Jan. 21, 2026, Orchids Builders LLC exposed workers to a 10-foot fall hazard when it failed to provide them with fall protection while they installed sheathing on a sloped roof at a Rockledge worksite. On March 10, 2026, OSHA investigators found the employer exposed a worker to a 9-foot fall hazard while installing metal hurricane clips at another Rockledge worksite.
OSHA also found that Orchids Builders failed to prepare and maintain written fall protection training certificates for employees at both worksites, did not ensure workers had eye protection while using nail guns, exposing them to eye injuries, and allowed workers to use ladders with side rails that did not extend at least 36 inches above the roof landing, increasing the likelihood and risk of a fall.
OSHA cited the employer for two willful and four repeat violations and proposed $349,754 in penalties. Orchids Builders LLC has been inspected seven times since 2023 and all the cases included fall protection violations.
It has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. Please check the OSHA establishment search page periodically for any changes in the inspection or penalty status.
Georgia Discriminators
Guice Services, Inc., doing business as Rooter ProXpress, a plumbing services provider across the Atlanta metropolitan area, violated federal law when it fired a customer service representative because of her pregnancy, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit announced today.
According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, the employee suffered from medical conditions related to her pregnancy, including high blood pressure, nausea, and round ligament pain. In May 2024, she informed her direct supervisor that she would need to take the following day off to tend to her symptoms. The next day a Rooter ProXpress manager expressed a desire to “get rid of” the representative because she was “pregnant and having a baby,” and Rooter ProXpress fired her.
This alleged conduct violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 (PDA), which prohibits discrimination because of sex, including pregnancy, childbirth and related medical conditions. The EEOC filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division, after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its administrative conciliation process.
Alabama Discriminators
Alabama recycler TCI of Alabama, LLC, will pay $2.6 million and provide other relief to settle a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) lawsuit, the federal agency announced today.
The EEOC’s suit charged that TCI intentionally violated federal law by engaging in a long-standing pattern of refusing to hire female laborers at its Pell City, Alabama recycling plant, potentially impacting thousands of women. According to the complaint, starting in 2006 when the company purchased the plant, through late 2022, the company intentionally hired only men for laborer positions and converted showers and locker rooms to male-only facilities. When TCI began outsourcing its labor staffing to third-party agencies, it directed them to refer only male applicants even when qualified female candidates were available.
The lawsuit also alleged that TCI’s discriminatory practices continued even after the EEOC investigated a whistleblower complaint made by a long-tenured employee whom TCI terminated for telling the truth about its hiring practice. The EEOC previously settled the whistleblower’s retaliation case for $90,000.
This alleged conduct violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits denying qualified individuals employment based on their sex. The EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its administrative conciliation process.
Under the three-year consent decree resolving the lawsuit, TCI will pay $2.6 million in monetary damages to compensate women who were denied employment. TCI will also hire a Title VII coordinator; provide mandatory anti-discrimination training to its managers and employees; notify all staffing agencies it works with not to comply with any discriminatory requests; and post a notice to employees about the settlement and how to report any future discrimination.
Details for the claims administration process will be announced at a later date.
In addition to resolving two lawsuits against TCI regarding its decades-long discriminatory practice, the EEOC recently reached settlements with two staffing agencies that illegally complied with TCI’s discriminatory preference for male laborers. The EEOC entered into a consent decree with WorkSmart, Inc. for $150,000 and resolved another charge of discrimination in a public conciliation agreement for $155,000 with Personnel Staffing, Inc.