UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE WEEKLY CLAIMS REPORT

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA In the week ending March 13, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 457,000, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week's unrevised figure of 462,000. The 4-week moving average was 471,250, a decrease of 4,250 from the previous week's unrevised average of 475,500.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.5 percent for the week ending March 6, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate of 3.5 percent.

New York – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a court order appointing an independent fiduciary to manage the abandoned 401(k) plan of defunct Project Solutions Inc. of Rochester, New York.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced more than $34 million in grant funding to six high schools that have been deemed persistently dangerous by state educational agencies. Funds will support programs that reduce violence and improve educational outcomes through mentoring, alternative learning strategies, employment and case management.

WASHINGTON – A report released today by the U.S. Department of Labor found that the 2009 Recovery Act Summer Youth Employment Initiative was largely successful in connecting young workers with employment experiences. Overall, 317,000 young people took part in the initiative.

WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary of Labor for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration Dr. David Michaels today testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Education and Labor Committee's Subcommittee on Workforce Protections. Michaels shared the U.S. Department of Labor's views on the Protecting America's Workers Act, particularly the issue of enhanced penalties.

WASHINGTON – Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis today announced that the U.S. Department of Labor will begin exercising its authority to certify applications for U Nonimmigrant Status Visas. U visas – as they are known – are designed to help victims of qualifying criminal activities who have suffered substantial physical or mental abuse and are willing to assist law enforcement or other government officials in the investigation or prosecution of those crimes.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration today announced the availability of approximately $125 million in funds for Community-Based Job Training Grants.

Grants will fund outreach and technical assistance to workers

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced approximately $1.2 million in grant funds authorized by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 from the dislocated workers assistance national reserve. A solicitation for grants announcement appears in today's Federal Register. One to four projects will be funded to provide technical assistance and outreach to dislocated workers impacted by foreign trade.

Delaware, Ohio – The U.S. Department of Labor has sued Carl Stover and Stover Industries Inc. in Delaware, for allegedly using employee contributions owed to the company’s 401(k) plan to pay the operating expenses of the company, in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration today announced approximately $67 million in grant funds for the Workforce Investment Act Indian and Native American Program.

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA In the week ending March 6, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 462,000, a decrease of 6,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 468,000. The 4-week moving average was 475,500, an increase of 5,000 from the previous week's revised average of 470,500.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.5 percent for the week ending Feb. 27, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate of 3.5 percent.

San Francisco – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained consent judgments providing for restitution of more than $12 million from Clair R. Couturier Jr., David R. Johanson and Robert E. Eddy, plan officials and service providers involved with the employee stock ownership plan sponsored by The Employee Ownership Holding Co. of Stockton, California, and Fife, Washington.

Denver – The U.S. Department of Labor has filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Denver against the former president and owner of IXP Inc., Fruita, Colo., for abandoning the company's 401(k) plan as its trustee after the company ceased operations in January 2009. IXP Inc. installed gasoline distribution pipelines.

WASHINGTON – Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis today testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies. Secretary Solis presented the department's fiscal year 2011 budget request and highlighted why the funding is vital to the nation's ongoing economic recovery.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced that approximately 4,600 workers from companies in 14 states – California, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin – are eligible to apply for Trade Adjustment Assistance.

WASHINGTON — Sandra Polaski, deputy undersecretary of labor for the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of International Labor Affairs, today testified before two subcommittees of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs on the role of labor issues and workers' rights in the Obama Administration's global agenda.

Polaski testified before the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade, and the Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight.

Tampa, Fla. – The U.S. Department of Labor has sued Medipharm-RX Inc., a former Tampa pharmacy, and two plan administrators to restore losses to the pharmacy's 401(k) plan.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration surveys employers to collect workplace injury and illness data it uses to identify employers whose injury and illness rates are considerably higher than the national average. A letter has been sent to about 15,000 workplaces with the highest numbers of injuries and illnesses resulting in days away from work, restricted work activities or job transfers, known as the DART rate.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration is extending the comment period on the proposed rule to revise the Occupational Injury and Illness Recording and Reporting (recordkeeping) regulation to March 30, 2010.

OREGON, Ohio – The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited BP North American Inc. and BP-Husky Refining LLC's refinery in Oregon, Ohio, with 42 alleged willful violations, including 39 on a per-instance basis, and 20 alleged serious violations for exposing workers to a variety of hazards including failure to provide adequate pressure relief for process units. Proposed penalties total $3,042,000.