ATLANTA —Following an investigation, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division is assessing J&R Baker Farms LLC $1,311,644 in back wages owed to 244 workers and $136,500 in fines for violating provisions of the H-2A temporary agricultural worker program.

The department’s Office of the Solicitor has filed a request with the department’s Office of Administrative Law Judges to hold a hearing to enforce the department’s findings against the Ellenton, Ga., agricultural employer.

WASHINGTON – Pursuant to a requirement imposed by the Pension Protection Act of 2006, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration today announced a proposed rule to implement the annual funding notice requirement under section 101(f) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced initial funding allocations for Trade Adjustment Assistance for states to assist workers who lose their jobs due to outsourcing and foreign trade.

WASHINGTON – Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis today issued the following statement after the Senate's failure to invoke cloture (by a margin of 58 to 41) on S. 3772 – the Paycheck Fairness Act:

NEW YORK – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a judgment against trustee Samuel Kohl and default judgments against trustee Caren Kohl and Welko Inc. of New York City as fiduciaries of the Welko Inc. Pension Plan, permanently barring them from serving in a fiduciary capacity to any employee benefit plan covered by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the findings of a multi-year study of the impact of the Unemployment Insurance program in stabilizing the economy during a deep recession. The study was commissioned by the department and undertaken by IMPAQ International LLC and the Urban Institute.

BOSTON – The U.S. Department of Labor has sued Fathalla M. Mashali, owner and president of the now defunct Northern Rhode Island Anesthesia Associates P.C. and its subsidiaries, for failing to forward more than $6 million in contributions plus interest owed to the company’s pension plan, in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. The company operated subsidiaries throughout Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration today announced a series of enforcement actions to protect more than $7 million for workers in retirement plans or health plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

LEXINGTON, S.C. – The U.S. Department of Labor is suing the former Rogers Steel Co. and its owner to restore losses suffered by participants and beneficiaries of the company’s savings incentive match plan for employees individual retirement account, or SIMPLE IRA plan. Rogers Steel Co. was a steel fabricator located in Lexington.

PASADENA, Calif. – The U.S. Department of Labor has sued Sophisticated Technologies Inc., a defunct system design and software company in Woodland Hills, Calif., and former president Moshe Klein for failure to protect $26,825 in employee contributions plus lost opportunity costs owed to the company’s 401(k) plan.

SPARTA, Wis. – The U.S. Department of Labor has sued Quality Tool and Machine Inc. of Sparta and the company’s president, Jerry Freimuth, for allegedly failing to forward $9,672 in employee contributions to the company’s savings incentive match plan for employees individual retirement account, or SIMPLE IRA plan, in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

FRANKLIN, Ky. – The U.S. Department of Labor is suing Truck It Inc. of Franklin and company owner Steven Ligon to restore employee contributions and lost opportunity costs to participants in the company’s 401(k) retirement plan.

MT. HOREB, Wis. – The U.S. Department of Labor has sued Mt. Horeb Plumbing Inc. and its owner and president, Michael D. O’Connell, for failing to make $30,120.65 in contributions and for untimely remitting $49,235.15 to the company’s employee 401(k) plan in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

DALLAS – The U.S. Department of Labor has sued Calypso Waterjet Systems Inc. of Dallas and its officers for allegedly failing to forward employee contributions and loan repayments to the company’s 401(k) plan and for misusing plan assets for the benefit of the company in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

HOUSTON – The U.S. Department of Labor has sued NSC Cos. Inc. of Houston and its owner for failing to remit or timely forward employee contributions to the company’s 401(k) plan and using the plan’s assets for their own benefit, in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

PASADENA, Calif. – The U.S. Department of Labor has sued a former Anaheim, Calif., mechanical subcontractor and its president to restore approximately $16,000 owed to the company’s savings incentive match plan for employees individual retirement account, or SIMPLE IRA plan.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The U.S. Department of Labor has sued Custom Navigation Systems Inc. of Westbrook, Conn., and company president Steven G. Gill for failing to forward $70,000 in employee contributions and loan repayments withheld from employees’ paychecks to the company’s 401(k) plan, in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

DALLAS - The U.S. Department of Labor has sued Paralegals Plus Inc. in Dallas and its chief executive officer for failure to remit employee contributions and plan assets to the company's savings incentive match plan for employees individual retirement account, or SIMPLE IRA plan and for using the plan's assets to benefit the company, in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

NEW YORK - The U.S. Department of Labor has sued an officer of defunct Finnegan's Moving & Warehouse of Newburgh, N.Y., for failing to forward delinquent employee and employer contributions to the company's savings incentive match plan for employees individual retirement account, or SIMPLE IRA plan in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

SOMERSET, Pa. - The U.S. Department of Labor has sued Super City Sports Sales Inc., general manager James V. Sujansky and parent company Pioneer Inc. for failing to remit employee contributions to the company's 401(k) profit-sharing plan, and for withdrawing all remaining plan funds in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.