Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

Creighton, Pennsylvania - A federal judge has ordered now defunct Orris Fuel Inc. and its controller, Victoria Skinner, to restore $34,688 in lost assets and interest to the company’s 401(k) plan.

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

Troy, Michigan - The U.S. Department of Labor will hold a free workshop in Troy, Michigan to help employers and administrators of pension and health plans comply with the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), the federal law that governs private-sector employee benefit plans. The workshop will be held August 9 at the Holiday Inn Troy, 2537 Rochester Court.

SAN FRANCISCO — The U.S. Department of Labor has filed a lawsuit against Gardena, Calif.-based Southern California Maid Services and Carpet Cleaning (SCMS) for minimum wage, overtime pay and recordkeeping violations of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. The suit seeks more than $1.8 million in unpaid backwages for approximately 386 employees.

NEW ORLEANS — The U.S. Labor Department announced today that it has recovered a total of $181,689 in back wages for 164 employees who performed debris removal for three different companies in the Gulf Coast region. These three lower-tiered government subcontractors agreed to pay their workers back wages following investigations by the department's Wage and Hour Division under the McNamara-O'Hara Service Contract Act (SCA).

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

Minneapolis, Minnesota - The U.S. Department of Labor obtained a default judgment against Paul J. Johnson from serving as a fiduciary to any plan governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and removing him as fiduciary of the Jerome Johnson Excavating Profit Sharing Plan, Maple Plain, Minnesota.

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

Washington, DC - The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), the Internal Revenue Service and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation today released advance copies of the 2006 Form 5500 and instructions.

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - A federal judge has barred Plan 3 Inc., Plan 3 Technologies, and owner Dennis Kelly from serving for 15 years as fiduciaries to employee benefit plans covered by the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). The U.S. Department of Labor alleged that the Rockville, Maryland companies and Kelly violated ERISA when they failed to properly administer health and welfare plans across the country.

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

Boston, Massachusetts - The U.S. Department of Labor has sued the owner and operator of Landry Architects of Salem, New Hampshire, seeking restoration of funds to the company’s profit sharing plan.

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

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

Atlanta, Georgia - The U.S. Department of Labor has filed suit to restore losses to the 401(k) plan of Commetrex Corp., Roswell, Georgia.

“Trustees of a 401(k) plan have a responsibility to ensure that the assets of the plan are used solely to benefit participants,” said Howard Marsh, director of the Atlanta regional office of the department’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA).

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor's Workforce Recruitment Program (WRP) has placed more than 300 qualified college students and recent graduates with disabilities in summer positions. The placements were made through a free database of 1,900 candidates seeking summer and full-time employment that was distributed on a compact disc this past spring to public and private sector employers.

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

San Francisco, California - The U.S. Department of Labor has sued two senior executives of Torrance-based Advanced Hi-Tech Corporation for failing to forward employee contributions to the company’s 401(k) profit sharing plan.

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

Des Moines, Iowa - A free compliance assistance seminar focusing on laws that cover health benefits will take place August 2 and 3 in Des Moines at the Holiday Inn Downtown at Mercy Campus. The seminar is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) and the Iowa Insurance Division.

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

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

Minneapolis, Minnesota - The U.S. Department of Labor filed suit today against Neupak Inc., its majority shareholder, and its 401(k) plan fiduciaries to recover employee contributions and loan repayments that they failed to forward to the workers’ 401(k) plan.

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

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - The former benefits administrator of the Riggers’ Local 161 Annuity Fund, located in Philadelphia, today was sentenced to six months of home confinement, three years of probation, and fined $2,000 after pleading guilty to embezzling approximately $21,888 from the fund between 2000 and 2002.

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

Los Angeles, California - The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) today announced that Margo Wainwright Harris has been ordered to repay $80,936 to the money purchase retirement plan of the Frederick Douglass Child Development Center Inc. in Los Angeles. Harris also was sentenced to three years’ supervised release and six months of home detention and was barred from dealings with employee benefit plans in the future.

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

Recommendations Would Strengthen DOL's Enforcement Authority

WASHINGTON — A U.S. Department of Labor official testifying today before the House Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims, highlighted the department's strong enforcement record despite limited enforcement authority under the Immigration and Nationality Act's H-1B visa program.

ATLANTA — The U.S. Labor Department announced today that Atlanta Erosion Consultants of Norcross, Ga., has agreed to pay $574,486 in overtime back wages to 193 workers after a Wage and Hour Division investigation found they had not been paid in accordance with the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).