Industrial Relations, Labor Departments to Merge Monday

Alabama's Department of Industrial Relations, which includes the Workers' Compensation Division, is merging with the state Department of Labor, effective Monday.The merged department, which will retain the Department of Labor name, is the result of legislation, SB 450, that the Legislature enacted in the 2012 session. Gov. Robert Bentley signed the bill on May 22.Tom Surtees, director of the Department of Industrial Relations, will become the commissioner of the reorganized Department of Labor. Jim Bennett, commissioner of the current Department of Labor, will retire on Monday. “...