Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, DOL NEWS—Employers settle fall hazards for $355K; US asks Mexico about labor complaint, (Jun 6, 2025)

By Jonathan Anderson

OSHA accused the employers of repeat violations or failing to correct hazards identified in previous inspections.

Employers in Florida and New York will pay a total of $355,817 to resolve separate OSHA citations involving fall hazards, including one case where a worker died. The Department of Labor also announced action following allegations that workers’ rights were denied at a manufacturing facility in Mexico owned by an American company.

Fall fatality. The Salvation Army will pay $120,817 for repeatedly exposing workers to fall hazards at a donation center and store in Orlando, Florida, where an employee died in November 2024.

The maintenance worker was repairing a roof leak when they fell and suffered fatal injuries. OSHA investigators subsequently cited The Salvation Army for a repeat violation of exposing workers to fall hazards. A similar citation was previously issued at the employer’s Princeton, West Virginia, location in January 2020.

OSHA also cited the organization for five serious violations, including failure to assess workplace hazards, provide fall protection training, and ensure proper machine guarding. Two other-than-serious violations were issued for failing to report the fatality to OSHA within eight hours of the incident and lacking a hazard communication program.

Uncorrected fall hazards. In an unrelated development, Adidas America Inc. will pay $235,000 in penalties and implement enhanced safety measures at multiple facilities for exposing employees to fall hazards at a warehouse in upstate New York.

Inspectors in 2024 determined that the company had not corrected hazards identified in an earlier inspection in 2021, including missing guardrails and an unsafe ladder. In the return inspection, inspectors also found an additional unsafe ladder violation.

The May 30, 2025, settlement requires Adidas to implement enhanced abatement measures at its facilities in New York, New Jersey, and Puerto Rico, including adopting a comprehensive safety and health management program, retraining employees on fall hazards, assessing and auditing potential fall hazards at each facility, and discontinuing use of overhead storage in the facilities.

Adidas America Inc. is a subsidiary of Adidas AG, which is headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, Germany.

Mexican union alleges denial of rights. The United States has requested that the government of Mexico review an alleged denial of workers’ rights at an auto parts manufacturing facility in Chihuahua, Mexico, owned by an American company, according to the DOL’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs.

On May 5, 2025, the Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Transformación, Construcción, Servicios y Comercio en General, a Mexican union associated with Confederación Autónoma de Trabajadores y Empleados de México, filed a petition under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement’s (USMCA) Rapid Response Labor Mechanism.

The petition alleges that union supporters at Superior Industries Inc. were subjected to threats, surveillance, and other forms of intimidation at the facility, which manufactures aluminum automobile wheels.

After the USMCA’s Interagency Labor Committee found sufficient and credible evidence supporting the petition’s allegations related to employer interference and retaliation, the U.S. government submitted a request for Mexico to review the case using the RRM.

The Mexican government has 10 days to decide whether to conduct a review and 45 days to investigate the claims and present its findings.

Superior Industries, which is headquartered in the United States, operates four facilities in Chihuahua, Mexico, through its Mexican subsidiary. The aluminum wheels produced at the Chihuahua facility are primarily used in vehicles exported to the United States.

Companies: The Salvation Army; Adidas America Inc.; Adidas AG; Superior Industries Inc.

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