Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

WASHINGTON—For their efforts to promote equal employment opportunity, nine companies and organizations were honored today by the U.S. Department of Labor at an annual awards ceremony hosted by the department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP).

Three types of awards—the Secretary of Labor’s Opportunity Award, Exemplary Voluntary Efforts (EVE) Awards, and Exemplary Public Interest Contribution (EPIC) Awards—were presented to recognize innovative workplace programs and initiatives that increase equal employment opportunity for the American workforce.

NEW DELHI, India—The Department of Labor (DOL), the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the government of India today launched a $40 million project to combat exploitive and hazardous child labor in India.

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

Washington, DC - Ann L. Combs, Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), today announced guidance on the duties of employee benefit plan fiduciaries in light of alleged abuses involving mutual funds.

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

Boston, Massachusetts - Trustees of the Rhode Island Laborers' Legal Services Plan have agreed to restore $318,181 to the plan to settle a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Labor for alleged violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), the federal law that protects private sector employee benefit plans.

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

Washington, DC - The U.S. Labor Department’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) published in the Federal Register the 2003 Form M-1 annual report for multiple employer welfare arrangements (MEWAs). MEWAs are arrangements that offer medical benefits to the employees of two or more employers or to their beneficiaries.

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

Atlanta, Georgia - The former owner of Complete Health System, Inc. of Vicksburg, Mississippi, (formerly Haworth Home Health Agency, Inc.) was sentenced on January 23, 2004 to four months in prison, four months of home confinement, probation and restitution to the company’s 401(k) plan.

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

Houston, Texas - Houston-based Easy Does It, Inc. and its owners have been sued by the U.S. Department of Labor for failing to properly manage the company’s profit sharing plan and failing to distribute plan assets to more than 20 participants. Easy Does It, Inc. provided alcohol and drug abuse treatment services.

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Department of Labor’s National Administrative Office (NAO) today agreed to review allegations that the government of Mexico failed to enforce its law protecting the rights of workers at two garment factories located in Mexico.

“Effective enforcement of labor laws is fundamental to the labor principles to which the U.S., Canada and Mexico are committed under the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation,” said NAO Acting Director Lewis Karesh. “To this end, the Labor Department intends to conduct a thorough review.”

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

Chicago, Illinois - Executives of defunct Omni Circuits, Inc., of Glenview, Illinois, were ordered to repay $23,996 to the company’s health, dental and life insurance plans and to distribute that money to 72 participants, according to a consent judgment and order obtained recently by the U.S. Department of Labor.

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

Houston, Texas - The U.S. Department of Labor obtained a consent judgment and order requiring the Houston area dental practice of Fadi A. Tatari, DDS, and its owner, to repay $9,296.81 in delinquent employee contributions owed to the Anderson Dental Group 401(k) plan.

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

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

Cleveland, Ohio - The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent order and judgment requiring the trustee of the health plan of Lake County, Ohio-based E & W Services, Inc., to repay $31,336 directly to participants as restitution for failure to forward employees’ premiums and payments for health benefit coverage.

Report Compares Spending by Governments and International Financial Institutions on Basic Education and Child Labor Efforts in 73 Developing Countries

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

Minneapolis, Minnesota - The U.S. Department of Labor asked a federal court to appoint an independent fiduciary to manage and terminate the 401(k) plan of Plymouth, Minnesota-based Riscomp Industries, Inc.

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

Chicago, Illinois - Executives of defunct Omni Circuits, Inc., of Glenview, Illinois, were ordered to repay $23,996 to the company’s health, dental and life insurance plans and to distribute that money to 72 participants, according to a consent judgment and order obtained in January by the U.S. Department of Labor.

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

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

Washington, DC -  The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) today announced a technical amendment extending the interim final rules under the Mental Health Parity Act (MHPA) to December 31, 2004.