February 23, 2004

Labor Department To Recover $80,000 for Retirees Of Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

February 20, 2004

Labor Department and IRS Unveil Booklet To Assist Small Businesses To Start, Operate 401(k) Plans

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

February 19, 2004

U.S. Department of Labor Honors Nine Organizations
for Creating Opportunities in the Workplace

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.

February 17, 2004

Labor Department Launches U.S.-India Child Labor
Project

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.

February 17, 2004

Labor Department Issues Guidance on Fiduciary Duties In Response to Mutual Fund Abuses

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.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

February 11, 2004

Labor Department Settlement With Rhode Island Laborers' Plan Officials To Restore $318,181 to Employee Benefit Plan

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.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

February 11, 2004

Labor Department Sues Trustees Of Union Health Plans Over Investments With Oregon Investment Manager CCL

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

February 10, 2004

Labor Department Publishes 2003 Form M-1 For Multiple Employer Welfare Arrangements - Online Filing Available March 1, 2004

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.

February 10, 2004

Former Owner of Mississippi Home Health Care Agency Sentenced for Embezzling Pension Assets

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.

February 9, 2004

Houston Firm and Owners Sued Over Misuse of Profit Sharing Plan Assets

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.

February 5, 2004

Labor Department to Review New Allegations of
Workers' Rights Violations against Mexico

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.”

February 5, 2004

Executives of Defunct Illinois Corporation Ordered to Pay Debts Owed to Welfare Plans

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.

February 5, 2004

Labor Department Recovers Delinquent 401(k) Contributions From Houston Dental Practice and Owner

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.

February 5, 2004

Department of Labor’s Seattle District Supervisor Retiring After 32 Plus Years of Federal Service

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

February 5, 2004

U.S. Labor Department Obtains Judgment Restoring $31,336 To Ohio Health Plan Participants

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.

February 4, 2004

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

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

February 3, 2004

Labor Department Sues Defunct Minnesota Company Over Abandoned 401(k) Plan

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.

February 2, 2004

Executives of Defunct Illinois Corporation Ordered to Pay Debts Owed to Welfare Plans

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.

February 2, 2004

Labor Department Sues Corporation For Violating Federal Employee Benefit Law

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

January 23, 2004

Mental Health Parity Act Extended to December 31, 2004

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.