IBEW Local 2320

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Exel Inc. for nine — including six willful — workplace safety and health violations at the Eastern Distribution Center III, a facility in Palmyra owned by the Hershey Co. and operated by Exel. Proposed penalties total $283,000. OSHA also has cited the SHS Group LP, doing business as SHS Staffing Solutions, for one violation with a proposed penalty of $5,000.

The U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division has announced a 14-day extension of the comment period for its proposed rule to provide minimum wage and overtime protections for nearly 2 million workers who provide in-home care services. Currently, workers classified as “companions” are exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act's minimum wage and overtime pay requirements. When established in 1974, such exemptions were meant to apply to casual babysitters and companions for the elderly and infirm ‒ not workers who chose in-home care service as a vocation and were responsible for supporting their families. The proposal would, if enacted, grant the exemption to households where the services are provided but not third-party staffing agencies. It would further clarify that companionship services are those directly related to the fellowship and protection of a care recipient.