New York – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration will hold a free workshop on September 1 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. EDT to help employers, the employee benefit community and others better comply with federal pension law. The workshop will be held at 33 Whitehall Street, 11th floor, in Manhattan.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today certified for release $15,640,385 in unemployment insurance modernization incentive funds to Rhode Island. The state qualified for the remaining two-thirds of its share of funds available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act by updating state unemployment insurance laws to include certain family-friendly provisions.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced a solicitation for grant applications for approximately $22 million to fund programs that will improve educational, training and employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities.

WASHINGTON U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis issued the following statement on the July 2010 Employment Situation report released today:

"This past July, the economy gained 71,000 jobs in the private sector. Overall, employment declined by 131,000, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 9.5 percent. This year we've seen the creation of 630,000 private sector jobs steady growth averaging 90,000 new private sector jobs each month, which tracks closely with what the Council of Economic Advisors had predicted earlier this year.

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA In the week ending July 31, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 479,000, an increase of 19,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 460,000. The 4-week moving average was 458,500, an increase of 5,250 from the previous week's revised average of 453,250.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.6 percent for the week ending July 24, unchanged from the prior week's unrevised rate of 3.6 percent.

Federal agency warns natural gas power plant operators against deadly practice

Penalty stems from 2005 explosion at Texas City, Texas, refinery

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced awards totaling $9,556,068 that will go to 29 states and the Virgin Islands to improve unemployment insurance information technology contingency plans and unemployment insurance IT security. This year is the sixth that the department has awarded these grants.

Washington – The U. S. Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) and the Department of the Treasury today announced a joint public hearing on Sept. 14, 2010, and if necessary on Sept. 15, to hear testimony on several specific issues relating to lifetime income and other arrangements that provide a stream of income after retirement for workers in employer-sponsored retirement plans. The hearing will begin at 9:00 a.m. in the Labor Department's auditorium, 200 Constitution Ave., N.W. in Washington, D.C.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor has announced a $419,150 National Emergency Grant increment to continue to provide services to about 475 workers affected by layoffs across multiple industries in the St. Louis region of Missouri.

"Today's grant will continue to help these Missourians with job placement assistance, skills training and other re-employment services to get started in new careers," said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis.

OSHA issues warning letter to industry following series of similar incidents including suffocation last week of 2 teenagers in Illinois grain elevator

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor has announced a $633,085 National Emergency Grant supplemental award to Missouri to continue providing services to workers affected by layoffs in the state's automotive industry.

"Missouri's auto workers who have been laid off need and deserve job placement, training and other services that will help them gain employment in other industries," said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis. "This grant will provide that assistance."

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced that approximately 9,000 workers from companies in 19 states are eligible to apply for Trade Adjustment Assistance. The companies are in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.

Blackstone, Virginia – The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond Division, has issued a default judgment against OSF America Inc. removing the former Blackstone company as fiduciary of its tax deferred savings plan.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy today announced the availability of approximately $2.3 million in funding for the Add Us In initiative, which will fund up to four cooperative agreements with allotments ranging from $500,000 to $625,000 each.

Asian Journal agrees to pay nearly $516,500 to 32 employees plus a $40,000 penalty

LOS ANGELES — The U.S. Department of Labor announced today that it has debarred Asian Journal Publications from using the H-1B visa program to hire temporary workers.

Washington – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) has launched a new online index for locating individual exemptions granted under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

This new online index lets people search by subject matter for individual exemptions granted from 1996 through 2010. For example, the index catalogues exemptions relating to captive reinsurance, co-investing, collateralized mortgage obligations, leases and in-kind contributions.

WASHINGTON — U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis today announced that the U.S. government has requested labor consultations with the Government of Guatemala under the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR). This is the first time that the United States has requested consultations under the labor chapter of a U.S. free trade agreement.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration today announced its intention to withdraw the proposed regulation on the definition of a welfare benefit plan under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act from review by the Office of Management and Budget.

SEASONALLY ADJUSTED DATA In the week ending July 24, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 457,000, a decrease of 11,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 468,000. The 4-week moving average was 452,500, a decrease of 4,500 from the previous week's revised average of 457,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.6 percent for the week ending July 17, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week's unrevised rate of 3.5 percent.