Affirms musculoskeletal disorder should be recorded on OSHA 300 Injury and Illness Log

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA In the week ending May 21, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 424,000, an increase of 10,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 414,000. The 4-week moving average was 438,500, a decrease of 1,750 from the previous week's revised average of 440,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.9 percent for the week ending May 14, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week's unrevised rate of 3.0 percent.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration today announced the forthcoming release of a final rule that streamlines and simplifies standards while reducing employer burdens. The rule, which soon will be published in the Federal Register, will help keep OSHA standards up-to-date and better enable employers to comply with their regulatory obligations.

URBANA, Ill. — A federal judge in Urbana has ordered Dolores Onate, owner, and Ricardo Onate, manager, of the El Matador Inc. and El Caporal Inc. restaurants in Decatur to pay a total of $1,149,702.50 in back wages and damages to 64 workers employed as servers and kitchen staff. This judgment resolves a lawsuit filed by the U.S.

CICERO, Ill. The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued penalties of $1,247,400 to AMD Industries Inc. in Cicero after five unprotected and untrained workers allegedly were required to conduct asbestos removal exposing them to this cancer-causing material.

The company was issued 19 willful and eight serious health citations following an OSHA inspection at its facilities in December 2010, in response to a referral from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced a $3,758,327 National Emergency Grant to assist with clean-up and recovery efforts in the wake of the severe storms, tornadoes and associated flooding that struck Arkansas last month.

"Many communities in Arkansas are suffering from the devastation of recent storms," said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis. "While the hard work of clean-up and repairs is only one part of the recovery, today's grant will help the people of Arkansas get back on their feet."

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has launched a survey of private sector employers as a tool toward better designing future rules, compliance assistance and outreach efforts. As many as 19,000 employers nationwide will receive the Baseline Survey of Safety and Health Practices, which asks questions about workplace safety and health management practices.

TUCKER, Ga. – The U.S. Department of Labor has sued fiduciaries of architectural company Milton Pate and Associates seeking to recover $135,516 for participants and beneficiaries of the company’s 401(k) profit-sharing plan.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division, alleges that the defendants violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act by taking prohibited loans from the plan and not forwarding employee contributions to the plan in a timely manner.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The U.S. Department of Labor has sued defunct mental health services provider Embrenche LLC and the company’s owners, Marty Hickman, Joe Parker and Avery Hairston, for allegedly violating the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.  The lawsuit alleges that the defendants diverted employees’ contributions away from the company’s 401(k) profit-sharing plan, and failed to administer and terminate the plan after the company ceased operating.

FLETCHER, N.C. – The U.S. Department of Labor has sued former Fletcher-based Unicomp Inc. and its chief executive officer, Stephen Hafer, to restore losses suffered by participants in the company’s health plan.

STAFFORD, Texas – The U.S. Department of Labor has sued oil field equipment and machine parts manufacturer MWDay Group Inc., doing business as Paradigm Machine Works Inc., in Stafford, and its owner and president, Michael W. Day.  The lawsuit alleges that the defendants failed to forward employee contributions and matching employer contributions to the company’s 401(k) plan in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced a $1.5 million National Emergency Grant incremental award to assist workers affected by the closure of Fort Monmouth in New Jersey. Under this grant, about 1,345 workers to be dislocated between now and September 2011 will be provided with training and re-employment services over the next year.

National Emergency Grant to fund temporary jobs in 19 counties

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced a $3,589,704 National Emergency Grant to assist with clean-up and recovery efforts in the wake of the severe storms, tornadoes, straight-line winds and associated flooding that struck Tennessee last month.

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA In the week ending May 14, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 409,000, a decrease of 29,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 438,000. The 4-week moving average was 439,000, an increase of 1,250 from the previous week's revised average of 437,750.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.0 percent for the week ending May 7, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate of 3.0 percent.

SAN FRANCISCO — The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a judgment requiring Los Angeles-based Global Horizons Inc. and president Mordechai Orian to pay $153,000 in back wages to 88 temporary agricultural workers from Thailand employed in Hawaii, plus $194,000 in civil money penalties, for committing significant violations of the federal H-2A temporary nonimmigrant agricultural laborer program.

36 states, District of Columbia, US Virgin Islands receiving funding

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration tomorrow will reopen the public record on a proposed rule to revise the Occupational Injury and Illness Recording and Reporting Requirements regulation. Notice of the reopening will be published May 17 in the Federal Register.

Proposed penalties total $563,000

CLARKS SUMMIT, Pa. — The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent judgment and order to restore $41,093 to the employee benefit plan of now-defunct Dalton Mechanical Services Inc., formerly located in Clarks Summit. The action resolves a lawsuit filed by the department in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania against the company and Scott Slocum, its president and co-owner. A default judgment also was entered against the company.

CHICAGO – A U.S. district court has upheld a subpoena issued by the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration requesting documents from Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance Co. concerning inspections and reports the company prepared for Haasbach LLC. Two teenage workers were killed in a grain engulfment at Haasbach's Mount Carroll, Ill., site in July 2010.