Proposed rule could impact businesses
- The U.S. Labor Dept. proposed a rule that would modify the legal framework for determining whether a worker is an employee or independent contractor under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
- The measure would rescind the current independent contractor adopted by the Trump Administration in 2021, which simplified the multi-factor test.
- The new rule returns to a “totality-of-the-circumstances” analysis, which balances all factors equally.
- The proposed rule, if enacted in its current form, will likely have a significant impact on industries that rely on contract workers, particularly ride-share and food-delivery companies
Prison fined for unsafe working conditions
- Regulators imposed $104,510 in fines against GEO Group, a private prison operator, after detained immigrant workers at the Golden State Annex in central California complained about unsafe conditions.
- Some of these allegations included a lack of protective equipment and proper training while cleaning the facility for $1 per day.
- California OSHA found six violations of state code by the company, which has appealed.
- The agency’s findings could pave the way for future labor rights fights at other detention centers in the state.
Another trench collapse leads to another fatality
- OSHA proposed $375,021 in penalties for Botticello Inc., saying the Connecticut contractor failed to provide required safeguards that contributed to the death of an employee buried when an 8-foot-deep trench collapsed.
- The agency said the company exposed their worker to deadly hazards as he connected drainage piping at a residential development construction site in Vernon.
- Botticello also failed to provide the trench with a protective system to prevent it from collapsing and caving in on workers.
- Previously, OSHA inspectors identified four serious violations related to trenching work by Botticello at another worksite.
Worker killed in convention center accident
- An employee died after an incident at Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority following an accident.
- OSHA is investigating and the company said they are cooperating in the investigation.
- Few other details have been disclosed about the death but there were no events at the convention center at the time of the accident.
- OSHA has six months to issue penalties and citations if violations are found.