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U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao today announced $10 million in grants to increase access to technology-based learning. Twenty projects were selected from a pool of 193 applications.

The U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) today announced the selection of five federal contractor establishments as the first recipients of the Good Faith Initiative for Veterans Employment (G-FIVE) program.

Sandia Corp., doing business as Sandia National Laboratory in Albuquerque, has agreed to pay $2,077,248 in overtime back wages to 2,657 research employees after a U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division investigation found violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

The U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS) today announced its criminal enforcement data for December 2008.

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) today published in the Federal Register final changes to its Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP) that, among other enhancements, allow participation by companies with mobile workforces.

The U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) today released findings of the most extensive survey in history of employers' actions and attitudes toward employing people with disabilities. The report is available at www.dol.gov/odep.

U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao issued the following statement on the December 2008 employment situation report released today:

Preliminary data from the U.S. Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) released today show that mine fatalities in 2008 fell to an all-time low recording a 31 percent drop from 2007. Metal/nonmetal mines recorded the lowest level of fatalities in that sector of mining since statistics were first recorded in 1910, and the fatality level in coal mines was the lowest recorded number since 2005.

The U.S. Department of Labor today announced that it will launch an online digital library to archive its Web sites under a contract with the San Francisco-based Internet Archive.

In the week ending Jan. 3, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 467,000, a decrease of 24,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 491,000. The 4-week moving average was 525,750, a decrease of 27,000 from the previous week's revised average of 552,750.

In fiscal year (FY) 2008, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) won a record $67,510,982 in back pay, salary and benefits for an unprecedented 24,508 American workers who had been subjected to unlawful employment discrimination.

The U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division (WHD) today announced its enforcement data for Fiscal Year (FY) 2008. In FY 2008, WHD recouped back wages totaling $185,287,827 for 228,645 workers. This represents a 40 percent increase over the FY 2001 figure. Since FY 2001, WHD has recouped more than $1.4 billion back wages for over two million workers.

In the week ending Dec. 27, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 492,000, a decrease of 94,000 from the previous week's unrevised figure of 586,000. The 4-week moving average was 552,250, a decrease of 5,750 from the previous week's unrevised average of 558,000.

In the week ending Dec. 20, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 586,000, an increase of 30,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 556,000. The 4-week moving average was 558,000, an increase of 13,750 from the previous week's revised average of 544,250.

The U.S. Department of Labor today announced a $2,019,861 grant to assist approximately 475 Missouri workers laid off from several companies in metropolitan St. Louis, including Continental AFA Dispensing Co., Macy's Inc., TRUE Fitness Technology and Western Union.

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) continued to exceed enforcement goals during Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 according to data released today. The agency's emphasis on identifying and eliminating serious safety and health hazards has resulted in an unprecedented 80 percent of all violations issued being in the most serious categories.

U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao today issued the following statement in response to the announcement that President-elect Barack Obama intends to nominate U.S. Rep. Hilda Solis as the next U.S. Secretary of Labor.

The U.S. Department of Labor's Veterans' Employment and Training Service (VETS) today announced the publication of a final rule on priority of service for veterans and eligible spouses. The new regulations apply to "any workforce preparation, development or delivery program or service that is directly funded, in whole or in part, by the Department of Labor," as provided by the Jobs for Veterans Act (P.L. 107-288), enacted in 2002.

The U.S. Department of Labor today announced a $10 million competition to connect workers 55 years and older to career opportunities in local industries.

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has reached an agreement with Cintas Inc. that the company will pay almost $3 million in penalties to resolve six cases currently pending before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. All of the cases involve citations OSHA issued to Cintas for failing to lock out hazardous energy sources on industrial laundry equipment while employees were servicing the equipment. One case arose from OSHA's investigation of a fatal accident in which an employee fell into a dryer while attempting to correct a jammed conveyor.