WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor will visit Livermore, Calif., to provide information about the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act (EEOICPA). Through town hall meetings, officials will present details about a new class of former employees of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory recently added to the act's Special Exposure Cohort (SEC). Officials also will be on hand to discuss Parts B and E of the EEOICPA and assist individuals with filing claims.

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

Washington – U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao today announced the appointment of five new members to and new leadership for the 2008 Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans, also known as the ERISA Advisory Council.

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

Washington – The U.S. Department of Labor today released a new online video to help small employers and accountants understand the various options for providing a retirement program for their employees. “Choosing a Retirement Solution for Your Small Business” introduces employers to the three most popular retirement arrangements.

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

Montpelier, Vermont – “Healthy, Wealthy and Wise?,” a free half-day conference to help Vermont women identify and secure their health, pension and workplace rights, will be held Monday, April 28, from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. EDT at the Capitol Plaza Hotel and Conference Center at 100 State Street in Montpelier.

WASHINGTON — A newly designed version of the U.S. Social Security Administration's (SSA) online Benefit Eligibility Screening Tool (BEST) application, powered by the U.S. Department of Labor-managed GovBenefits.gov, has been launched to make it easier for individuals to determine their eligibility for 17 different Social Security programs.

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

Atlanta – The U.S. Department of Labor has sued two officers of the Georgia Plumbers Trade Association (GPTA) in Griffin, Georgia, for failing to oversee, monitor and control the assets of the Georgia Plumbers Trade Association Health Plan in violation of the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

Atlanta – The U.S. Department of Labor has sued two officers of the Georgia Plumbers Trade Association (GPTA) in Griffin, Georgia, for failing to oversee, monitor and control the assets of the Georgia Plumbers Trade Association Health Plan in violation of the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

San Francisco – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits and Security Administration (EBSA) will hold free, half-day workshops in San Francisco on April 21, at 9:30 a.m. and again at 1:30 p.m. PDT, to help employers, the employee benefit community and others better comply with federal pension law. The workshops will be held at the San Francisco Federal Building, 90-7th Street, Auditorium-Room B-020.

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

Hartford, Connecticut – American Air Tool Enterprises LLC of Centerbrook, Connecticut, and Scott Saunders, trustee to the company’s 401(k) plan, have agreed to restore $18,286.51 plus interest to the plan to settle a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Labor alleging violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

Atlanta – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment in the U.S. District Court for South Carolina ordering Associated Technical Training Services Inc. (ATTSI) and plan fiduciaries to restore $1,523,227 to the company’s 401(k) profit-sharing plan.

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

Atlanta – A free health law compliance assistance seminar for employers, plan fiduciaries and plan service providers, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) and the Georgia Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner, will take place April 30 to May 1 at The Mulberry Inn, 601 East Bay Street, in Savannah, Georgia.

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

Telford, Pennsylvania – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a default judgment appointing an independent fiduciary to terminate the 401(k) plan of defunct Telford company Keystone Contractors Inc. and distribute plan assets to participants and beneficiaries.

As of July 2007, the plan had 18 participants and approximately $27,051 in assets, the latest data available.

Advanced Professional Marketing Inc. also assessed civil penalty of $512,000

NEW YORK — Advanced Professional Marketing Inc. (APMI), a medical staffing company based in New York City, and the company's president, Marissa Beck, have been charged by the U.S. Department of Labor with violating provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act that authorize employers to bring non-immigrant workers into the United States under the H-1B program.

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

Elk Grove Village, Illinois – The U.S. Department of Labor has sued the vice president and profit-sharing plan trustee of Eagle International Ltd. in Elk Grove Village for violating the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) by making an improper $30,000 loan to the company and failing to terminate the plan after the company ceased operation in 2003.

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

Philadelphia – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) and the Pennsylvania Department of Insurance will offer a free health law compliance assistance seminar for employers, plan fiduciaries and plan service providers on April 8 and 9 at the Hotel Carlisle Embers Convention Center, 1700 Harrisburg Pike, in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

Washington – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced a proposed regulation providing a model notice for use by multiemployer defined benefit pension plans to notify plan participants and others that their plan is in critical funding status. The proposed regulation is the result of the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA) signed into law by President George W. Bush on August 17, 2006.

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

Kansas City, Missouri – The U.S. Department of Labor has filed a lawsuit against Ronald Unterreiner, the president, secretary and director of Design and Construction Services Inc., in Chesterfield, Missouri, which sponsored the Design and Construction Services Inc. SIMPLE IRA Plan, for failure to forward $10,351.34 in employee contributions to the plan.

WASHINGTON — On March 19, the U.S. Department of Labor will make available to employers nationwide a free database of 1,769 new job candidates with disabilities seeking work in a wide variety of fields. Federal employers can tap into this ongoing recruitment resource online, and private sector, other government and nonprofit employers can request unlimited searches by calling a toll-free telephone number.

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

San Francisco – The U.S. Department of Labor has reached an agreement with the president of UltraCard Inc., a revoked Nevada corporation operating out of Los Gatos, California, to restore employee contributions and lost interest to the company-sponsored 401(k) plan.

Convictions up 20 percent, indictments 39 percent over fiscal year 2007