Freeman & Associates Contracting in Raleigh will pay $20,088 in back wages to four employees who should have been paid overtime, according to an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division.

The investigation found that the workers were misclassified as independent contractors, a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. In addition, the company didn't keep accurate record of their work hours and wages.

State labor officials today fined Progress Energy $31,500 for safety violations that contributed to the death of an employee in March at a power plant in Wilmington.

The N.C. Department of Labor cited the Raleigh-based electric utility for nine serious safety infractions in violation of the state's Occupational Safety and Health Act, commonly known as OSHA.

In the accident, Corey Rogers, a 24-year-old technician, was killed by a hydrogen explosion while he was performing maintenance at the Sutton coal-fired plant. 

"The penalties are in no way designed to make up for loss of life," the labor department said. "Fines are issued to penalize the offending employer but also to get the attention of other employers with similar work environments."

North Carolina’s private injury and illness rate dropped for the third consecutive year in 2009 and now stands at a historic low 3.1 cases per 100 full-time workers.

The rate is based on data compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The rate for construction dropped to 3.1 per 100 full-time workers in 2009 from 3.7 in 2008.

Manufacturing dropped to 3.5 per 100 full-time workers in 2009 from 4.2 in 2008.

Fewer people died on the job last year, according to data released today by the N.C. Department of Labor.

It may be tempting to say the numbers — 34 deaths in 2009 compared to 57 in 2008 — reflect the recession. After all, fewer people are working, especially in industries that are typically the most hazardous: manufacturing and construction.

But Allen McNeely, director of the Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Division, said that's not the case.

“To get a true gauge of how employers are doing, we look at the rate that fatalities are occurring, which takes into consideration the fluctuations in the workforce," McNeely said in a statement. "While we may have had fewer working, the work being performed is still extremely hazardous. We are encouraged by the fact that the fatality rate is decreasing.”

The fatality rate for construction per 100,000 workers over the past four years has decreased from 9.00 in 2006 to 6.98 in 2009, according to Labor's data. Last year, 14 people died in construction-related accidents compared to 17 in 2008. Meanwhile, eight workers died in manufacturing accidents compared to nine the previous year.