WASHINGTON—U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao praised the efforts of an international assembly of 500 children and world leaders who are meeting in Florence, Italy at the Children’s World Congress to find better ways to combat the worst forms of child labor.

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Report Specified Under the Trade and Development Act

WASHINGTON—The Labor Department today released its third annual report on the worst forms of child labor in 144 countries and territories that receive U.S. trade benefits.

Program Designed to Correct Misinformation about Stronger Worker Protections

WASHINGTON—In a nationwide teleconference sponsored by the American Bar Association this week, Solicitor of Labor Howard Radzely announced a new Overtime Security Amicus Program at the Department of Labor. The Department is establishing this program to counter an unprecedented misinformation campaign against the stronger worker protections contained in the new rule.

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Chicago, Illinois - The U.S. Department of Labor has sued defunct L.R.D.S., Inc., of Orland Park, Illinois and an owner of the floral distributor for failing to forward employee contributions to the company’s Simple IRA Plan.

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Washington, DC - The Compliance Assistance Seminar sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) and the Maryland Department of Insurance, will take place in Annapolis, Maryland, on May 19-20, 2004 at the Sheraton Barcelo, 173 Jennifer Road.

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WASHINGTON—U.S. Wage and House Division Administrator Tammy McCutchen today told a Senate subcommittee that the Labor Department’s new overtime security rules will strengthen and guarantee overtime pay protection for 6.7 million additional workers.

WASHINGTON—At a news conference today Chuck Canterbury, President of the nation’s largest police labor organization in America, the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), and Ed Mullins, President of the Sergeants Benevolent Association of the New York City Police Department (SBA), the largest police sergeants organization in America, joined with Department of Labor Wage and Hour Administrator Tammy McCutchen in denouncing the new low in the campaign of misinformation being waged against the Department’s new Overtime Security rules for white collar workers.

WASHINGTON—In testimony before the U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee, U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao today said the Department’s new overtime security rules will strengthen and guarantee overtime pay protection for an unprecedented 6.7 million additional workers and make the existing rules much easier for workers and employers to understand.

NEW ORLEANS, La.—U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao today named a new enforcement task force within the Wage and Hour division of the Department of Labor to maximize protection of workers’ pay rights under new Overtime Security rules announced last week. The announcement followed a meeting Secretary Chao held with Department of Labor Wage and Hour regional managers and district directors.

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Over 6,000 Radio Stations and 10,000 Newspapers will Receive Public Service Announcements

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Department of Labor has launched a nationwide outreach campaign to increase awareness about youth employment laws as part of the YouthRules! Initiative. YouthRules! promotes positive and safe work experiences for young workers by educating parents, teens, employers, and educators about the types of jobs teens can hold and the number of hours they can work.

New Rule available at the Federal Register

WASHINGTON—New rules governing overtime rights for white-collar workers are published today in the Federal Register. The Department of Labor announced the new overtime rules in a news conference earlier this week. The regulations become effective in 120 calendar days.

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Atlanta, Georgia - The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment permanently barring the former trustees of the profit sharing plan of Bama Wood Inc. in Montgomery, Alabama, from serving as fiduciaries or in positions of trust to employee benefit plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

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Chicago, Illinois - The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has obtained a consent judgment and order requiring the Clinic in Altgeld Inc. of Chicago to restore $67,997 to the company's 401(k) plan as restitution for delinquent employee contributions and loan payments that were not forwarded to the plan.

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FairPay Initiative Guarantees Overtime Rights for Millions of Workers

WASHINGTON—U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao today announced the final regulations governing overtime eligibility for “white-collar” workers under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The regulations had not been substantially updated for over 50 years, creating confusion for workers and employers, generating wasteful class action litigation, and failing to effectively protect workers’ pay rights.