Boss Watch

Illegal activities of Southern Bosses for the weeks between Friday, March 8 and Friday, March 15 —MISSOURI THIEVES— A Park Hills vegetable farming and packing operation will pay $479,983 in back wages to 208 workers, following an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division. In a consent order and judgment entered in…

Illegal activities of Southern Bosses for the weeks between Friday, March 15 and Friday, March 22 Alabama Killer A 38-year-old worker at a Cullman manufacturing plant suffered fatal injuries after getting caught inside a molding machine, a fatality the employer could have prevented by following established safety rules, a U.S. Department of Labor workplace safety…

Illegal activities of Southern Bosses for the weeks between Friday, March 1 and Friday, March 8 —GEORGIA KILLER— Investigators with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration found that on Aug. 10, 2023, two Pyles Plumbing and Utility Contractors Inc. employees in Macon, GA were installing sewer-line piping in a trench when the…

Illegal activities of Southern Bosses for the weeks between Friday, February 16 and Friday, February 23 —VIRGINIA THIEF— The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division has recovered nearly $900,000 in back wages and damages after its investigation found a Norfolk home care employer denied 108 workers their hard-earned overtime pay. The division’s investigation…

Illegal activities of Southern Bosses for the weeks between Friday, February 9 and Friday, February 16 —FLORIDA KILLER— A federal investigation into the death of a 39-year-old maintenance employee found that the two contractors responsible for the job site could have prevented the incident by communicating and following safety rules designed to prevent the unexpected startup…

Illegal activities of Southern Bosses for the weeks between Friday, February 2 and Friday, February 9 —ALABAMA KILLER— From AL.com: The U.S. Department of Labor has fined a company $117,175 in connection with the 2019 death of a 15-year-old who plunged 50 feet from a worksite on his first day on the job. According to the…

Illegal activities of Southern Bosses for the weeks between Friday, January 28 and Friday, February 5 —FLORIDA THIEVES— The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered $901,625 in back wages and liquidated damages for 75 workers of a Florida grocery store enterprise after finding their employer wrongly exempted them from eligibility for overtime pay. The department’s Wage…

Illegal activities of Southern Bosses for the weeks between Friday, January 5 and Friday, January 19 —MISSISSIPPI KILLERS— For the second time in just over two years, a poultry processing plant in Hattiesburg has disregarded safety standards that have led to a worker’s death, this time a 16-year-old sanitation worker who was pulled into a…

Illegal activities of Southern Bosses for the week ending on Friday, December 15 —GEORGIA KILLERS— The US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board completed their investigation into the 2021 deaths of 6 Gainesville poultry plant workers by liquid nitrogen, saying the deaths were “completely preventable.” Friend of the show Luis Feliz Leon wrote about this…

Illegal activities of Southern Bosses for the week ending on Friday, December 1 — FLORIDA ENDANGERERS — A federal workplace safety investigation found a South Bay correctional and rehabilitation facility failed to follow recognized safety practices, leaving employees vulnerable to violent attacks and injuries, including one worker who a patient reportedly struck in the face…

Illegal activities of Southern Bosses for the week ending on Friday, November 25 Papa John’s Pizza will pay $175,000 and provide other relief to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced last week. According to the EEOC’s suit, in early 2020, Michael Barnes applied…

Illegal activities of Southern Bosses for the week ending on Friday, November 17 Federal investigators have recovered $532,842 in back wages and liquidated damages from a Montgomery home healthcare business that misclassified 67 employees as independent contractors, and incurred overtime wage violations as a result. U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigators found…