Wage and Hour Division refers case to US Justice Department

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employee Benefits Security Phyllis C. Borzi today announced the following guidance on compliance with employee benefit plan rules for those adversely impacted by the Moore, Oklahoma tornado:

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced $6.4 million in grants for the third round of the Workforce Data Quality Initiative, which is designed to improve the quality and availability of workforce data.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced $9.1 million in grants to seven organizations through the National Farmworker Jobs Program to improve economic opportunities and combat chronic unemployment and underemployment for migrant and seasonal farmworkers and their families.

Date of Action: June 10, 2013

Type of Action: Complaint

Names of Defendants: Alex Bulmash, Investment Group Inc. and Investment Group Inc. 401(k) Sharing Plan & Trust

Allegations: The Investment Group Inc. was a mortgage brokerage firm which processed residential mortgages in Cook County, Ill. Bulmash was the president and owner of Investment Group Inc. and sole fiduciary to the Investment Group Inc. 401(k) Sharing Plan & Trust established in January 2003.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced a National Emergency Grant totaling $838,390 to assist about 200 workers affected by layoffs at the headquarter offices of SUPERVALU located in Eden Prairie and Stillwater, Minn.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor will host town hall meetings in New Mexico —on June 18 in Santa Fe, on June 19 in Albuquerque and on June 20 in Grants — to provide information about the medical benefits provided under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor and other federal agencies will participate in two town hall meetings on June 19 in Bolingbrook, Ill., to provide former nuclear weapons workers, including those who worked at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and at Argonne National Laboratory East, with information about the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The U.S. Department of Labor has filed complaints on behalf of pension plans at Iowa-based foundry Fairfield Casting LLC and Michigan-based manufacturer Fourslides Inc. The suits, filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, allege improper use of pension funds and seek to restore $4.9 million to the defined benefit plans.

Date of Action: June 10, 2013

Type of Action: Consent judgment and order

Name of Defendant: Thomas Fernandes, individually and as a fiduciary to the Air Gage Company 401(k) Plan and Air Gage Company Health Care Plan

Resolution: Fernandes, in his capacity as a fiduciary to the Air Gage Company 401(k) Plan and Air Gage Company Health Care Plan, is liable to the plans for $11,143.21.

MILWAUKEE – A federal court in Milwaukee has ordered Michael J. Losik to restore $225, 274 to the Losik Engineering Design Group Ltd. defined benefit retirement plan. Losik, the company’s president and owner, violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act by imprudently investing plan assets in a hedge fund, by making an improper distribution to his own account, and by failing to properly administer the plan. The judgment resolves a lawsuit filed by the U.S.

WASHINGTON – Acting Secretary of Labor Seth D. Harris issued the following statement about the May 2013 Employment Situation report released today:

"This morning's report offers more encouraging evidence that the U.S. economy continues to rebound at a steady, moderate rate – a total of 178,000 new private sector jobs in May. That makes 39 months in a row of growth – in just over three years, the economy has now generated just shy of 7 million jobs.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today awarded nearly $32 million in grants to 12 community-based organizations that will provide job training, education and support services to formerly incarcerated youth and women.

Conferences to be held in New York and New Jersey

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division today announced that it will host two conferences in areas impacted by Hurricane Sandy to provide information and training on the rules concerning prevailing wage requirements under the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts and the Service Contract Act. The conferences are a key component of the Wage and Hour Division's efforts to increase compliance with federal prevailing wage requirements.

WASHINGTON — Senior officials of the U.S. Department of Labor and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative today issued a joint statement with their counterparts from the Government of Colombia following the first meeting of the Labor Affairs Council under the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the launch of an online toolkit to help workers identify key issues related to retirement planning. The department's Employee Benefits Security Administration developed the toolkit in cooperation with the Social Security Administration and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to help workers understand important decisions related to employment-based plans, Social Security and Medicare.

Date of Action: May 29, 2013 

Type of Action: Consent Order and Judgment

Names of Defendants: Dayton Imaging Solutions Inc., Bryan Belden, and the Dayton Imaging Solutions Inc. SIMPLE IRA Plan located in Dayton, Ohio.

WASHINGTON – Acting Secretary of Labor Seth D. Harris today issued the following statement on the death of Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg of New Jersey:

"This morning, New Jersey and the nation lost a true statesman and a powerful progressive voice. Throughout nearly three decades in the United States Senate, Frank Lautenberg was an unrelenting champion for working people, social justice, environmental protection, public health and, most important, the people of his beloved New Jersey.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced a $500,000 National Emergency Grant incremental award to assist Rhode Island with continuing cleanup and recovery efforts in the wake of the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration today announced that it has approved a process for JP Morgan Chase Bank NA and ADP Inc. to terminate and wind up approximately 180 defined contribution pension plans abandoned due to corporate crises or neglect. This action, conducted through EBSA's abandoned plan program, will give plan participants control over the fate of their retirement savings.