United States Department of Labor

The Department of Labor (DOL) administers federal labor laws for the executive branch of the federal government. Its mission is "to foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners of the United States, to improve their working conditions, and to advance their opportunities for profitable employment" (29 U.S.C.A. § 551 [1985]). The DOL was created in 1913 out of four bureaus from the Department of Commerce and Labor: the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bureau of Immigration, Bureau of Naturalization, and Children's Bureau.

The DOL is headed by the secretary of labor, who serves in the president's cabinet. The department's numerous responsibilities include administering and enforcing federal labor laws guaranteeing workers' rights to safe and healthful working conditions, a minimum hourly wage and overtime pay, freedom from employment discrimination, unemployment insurance, and workers' compensation. The department protects workers' pension rights, provides for job training programs, helps workers find jobs, and works to strengthen the collective bargaining process. It keeps track of changes in employment, prices, and other economic measurements. The DOL also makes special efforts to address the unique job market problems of minorities, women, children, the elderly, disabled persons, and so on.

Seven major agencies operate within the DOL: the Employment and Training Administration, Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration, Employment Standards Administration, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Mine Safety and Health Administration, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Veterans' Employment and Training Service. Other organizations, including the Women's Bureau, Office of the American Workplace, and Bureau of International Labor Affairs, also function within the department.

Employment and Training Administration

The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) administers five major programs that relate to employment services, job training, and unemployment insurance. The ETA also administers a federal-state employment security system, funds and oversees programs to provide work experience and training for groups having difficulty entering or returning to the workforce, and formulates and promotes apprenticeship standards and programs.

The Federal Unemployment Insurance Service (FUIS) oversees the Federal-State Unemployment Compensation Program under provisions of the Social Security Act of 1935 (42 U.S.C.A. § 1305). This program provides income support for unemployed workers. Because unemployment benefits are payable under laws of individual states, the FUIS is primarily an oversight organization providing leadership and policy guidance to the states.

The U.S. Employment Service, under the provisions of the Wagner-Peyser Act (29 U.S.C.A. § 49 et seq.) helps states establish and maintain a system of local public employment offices. The state public employment service is responsible for providing unemployed individuals and other job seekers with job placement, and other employment services.

The Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training formulates and promotes labor standards necessary to safeguard the welfare of apprentices. The Office of Job Training Programs develops and issues federal procedures pertaining to programs targeted at young people and adults who face serious barriers in obtaining employment.

Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration

The Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration (PWBA) helps protect the economic future and retirement security of workers, as required under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) (29 U.S.C.A. § 1001). There are nearly 1 million pension plans and 4.5 million health and welfare plans in the United States. ERISA requires administrators of private pension and welfare plans to provide plan participants with easily understandable summaries of their plans. These summaries are filed with the PWBA, along with annual reports on the financial operations of the plans and on the bonding of persons charged with handling plan funds and assets. Plan administrators must also meet strict fiduciary responsibility standards, which are enforced by the PWBA.

Employment Standards Administration

The Employment Standards Administration administers minimum wage and overtime standards through its Wage and Hour Division. This division seeks to protect low-wage incomes as provided by the minimum wage provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (29 U.S.C.A. § 201), and to discourage excessively long hours of work through the enforcement of the overtime provisions of the act. The division also determines the prevailing wage rates for federal construction contracts and federally assisted programs for construction, alteration, and repair of public works subject to the Davis- Bacon Act (40 U.S.C.A. § 276a) and related acts.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has responsibility for occupational safety and health activities. OSHA was established by the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (29 U.S.C.A. § 651 et seq.). It develops and issues occupational safety and health standards for various industries and occupations. OSHA also formulates and publishes regulations that employers are to follow in maintaining health and safety. It conducts investigations and inspections to determine compliance with these standards and regulations, and if it finds noncompliance, it may issue citations and propose penalties.

Mine Safety and Health Administration

The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) is responsible for safety and health in coal and other mines in the United States. The Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 (30 U.S.C.A. § 801 et seq.) gave the MSHA strong enforcement provisions to protect coal miners, and in 1977 the act was amended to protect persons working in the noncoal areas of the mining industry, such as silver mining.

The MSHA develops and promulgates mandatory safety and health standards for the mining industry, inspects mines to ensure compliance, investigates mining accidents, and assesses fines for violations of its regulations. It helps the states develop effective state mine safety and health programs. The MSHA also conducts research on mine safety, in the hope of preventing and reducing mine accidents and occupational diseases.

Bureau of Labor Statistics

The Bureau of Labor Statistics is the principal data gathering agency of the federal government in the broad field of labor economics. It has no enforcement or regulatory functions. The bureau collects, processes, analyzes, and disseminates data relating to employment, unemployment, and other characteristics of the labor force. It also analyzes prices and consumer expenditures, economic growth and employment projections, and occupational health and safety. Most of the data are collected by the bureau, the Bureau of the Census, or state agencies.

The basic data are issued in monthly, quarterly, and annual news releases, bulletins, reports, and special publications. Data are also provided electronically, including on the Internet.

Veterans' Employment and Training Service

The Veterans' Employment and Training Service directs the DOL's veterans' employment and training programs through a nationwide network of support staff. The service's field staff work closely with state employment security agencies to ensure that veterans are provided the priority service required by law. The service provides public information and designs outreach activities that seek to encourage employers to hire veterans. It also administers programs designed to meet the employment and training needs of veterans with service-connected disabilities, Vietnam-era veterans, and veterans recently separated from military service.

Other Agencies

The Women's Bureau formulates standards and policies that promote the welfare of wage earning women, improve their working conditions, increase their efficiency, and advance their opportunities for profitable employment.

The Office of the American Workplace was created in 1993 to enhance employer-employee relations and collective bargaining, as well as to ensure that labor unions are run democratically. It works to establish labor-management networks that disseminate information concerning cooperative labor-management relations and high-performance workplace practices. It conducts investigative audits to uncover and remedy criminal and civil violations of federal law. Its Office of Labor-Management Standards conducts criminal and civil investigations to safeguard the financial integrity of unions and to ensure union democracy.

The Bureau of International Labor Affairs carries out the DOL's international responsibilities. It works with other government agencies to formulate international economic, trade, and immigration policies affecting U.S. workers. The bureau represents the United States on delegations to multilateral and bilateral trade negotiations, and in international bodies such as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, International Labor Organization, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and other U.N. organizations. It also helps administer the U.S. labor attaché program at embassies abroad and carries out technical assistance projects in other countries.

See: Employment Law; Labor Law; Labor Union; Mine and Mineral Law.

Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (July 2008)

United States Department of Labor
Seal of the Department of Labor
Logo of the Department of Labor
Agency overview
Formed	March 4, 1913
Headquarters	Frances Perkins Building 1849 C Street, NW Washington, DC 38°53′33.13″N 77°0′51.94″W / 38.8925361°N 77.0144278°W / 38.8925361; -77.0144278
Employees	17,347 (2004)
Annual budget	$59.7 billion (2004)
Agency executives	Hilda Solis, Secretary   Seth David Harris, Deputy Secretary
Website
www.dol.gov

The United States Department of Labor is a Cabinet department of the United States government responsible for occupational safety, wage and hour standards, unemployment insurance benefits, re-employment services, and some economic statistics. Many U.S. states also have such departments. The department is headed by the United States Secretary of Labor. Hilda Solis is the current secretary.

The department is housed in the Frances Perkins Building, which gained its name in 1980 when President Jimmy Carter renamed the facility in honor of Frances Perkins, the Secretary of Labor from 1933–1945 and the first female cabinet secretary in U.S. history.^[1]

Contents 1 History 2 Operating units 3 Related legislation 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

History

The U.S. Congress first established a Bureau of Labor in 1888 under the Department of the Interior. Later, the Bureau of Labor became an independent Department of Labor but lacked executive rank. It became a bureau again within the Department of Commerce and Labor, which was established February 15, 1903. President William Howard Taft signed the March 4, 1913 bill establishing the Department of Labor as a Cabinet-level Department.

President Lyndon Johnson asked Congress to consider the idea of reuniting Commerce and Labor.^{[citation needed]} He argued that the two departments had similar goals and that they would have more efficient channels of communication in a single department. However, Congress never acted on it.

In the 1970s, following the Civil Rights Movement, the Labor Department under Secretary George P. Shultz was instrumental in promoting racial diversity in unions.^[2]

Operating units

The Frances Perkins Building, the Department of Labor headquarters in Washington, D.C.

• Administrative Review Board (ARB)
• Benefits Review Board (BRB)
• Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB)
• Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
• Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (CFBCI)
• Employees' Compensation Appeals Board (ECAB)
• Employment Standards Administration (ESA)
  • Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP)
  • The Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS)
  • Office of Workers' Compensation Programs (OWCP)
  • Wage and Hour Division (WHD)
• Employment and Training Administration (ETA)
• Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA)
• Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
• Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)
• Veterans' Employment and Training Service (VETS)
• Women's Bureau (WB)
• Office of Inspector General (OIG)

Other organizational units within the Department:

• Presidential Task Force on Employment of Adults With Disabilities (PTFEAD)
• Office of Administrative Law Judges (OALJ)
• Office of Congressional & Intergovernmental Affairs (OCIA)
• Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management (OASAM)
• Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy (OASP)
• Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO)
• Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO)
• Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP)
  
• Office of Small business Programs (OSBP)
• Office of the Solicitor (SOL)
• Office of the Secretary (OSEC)
• Office of the 21st Century Workforce (21CW)
• Wirtz Labor Library

Related legislation

• 1931 - Davis-Bacon Act
• 1938 - Fair Labor Standards Act
• 1946 - Employment Act PL 79-304
• 1949 - Fair Labor Standards Amendment PL 81-393
• 1953 - Small Business Act PL 83-163
• 1954 - Internal Revenue Code PL 83-591
• 1955 - Fair Labor Standards Amendment PL 84-381
• 1958 - Small Business Administration extension PL 85-536
• 1961 - Fair Labor Standards Amendment PL 87-30
• 1961 - Area Redevelopment Act PL 87-27
• 1962 - Manpower Development and Training Act PL 87-415
• 1962 - Public Welfare Amendments PL 87-543
• 1963 - Amendments to National Defense Education Act PL 88-210
• 1964 - Economic Opportunity Act PL 88-452
• 1965 - Vocational Rehabilitation Act amended PL 89-333
• 1966 - Fair Labor Standards Amendment PL 89-601
• 1967 - Executive Order 11246
• 1973 - Comprehensive Employment and Training Act PL 93-203
• 1973 - Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act PL 93-112
• 1974 - Fair Labor Standards Amendment PL 93-259
• 1974 - Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act PL 92-540
• 1975 - Revenue Adjustment Act (Earned Income Tax Credit) PL 94-12, 164
• 1976 - Overhaul of vocational education programs PL 94-482
• 1976 - Social Security Act Amendments (Aid to Day Care Centers) PL 94-401
• 1977 - Fair Labor Standards Amendment PL 95-151
• 1978 - Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act PL 95-523
• 1981 - Budget Reconciliation Act PL 97-35
• 1982 - Job Training Partnership Act PL 97-300
• 1986 - Migrant And Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act PL 99-603
• 1988 - Family Support Act PL 100-485
• 1989 - Fair Labor Standards Amendment PL 101-157
• 1990 - Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act PL 101-508
• 1993 - Omnibus Budget Reconciliation and Bankruptcy Act PL 103-66
• 1996 - Small Business Job Protection Act PL 104-188
• 1996 - Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act PL 104-193
• 1996 - Veterans Employment Opportunities Act PL 105-339
• 1998 - Workforce Investment Act

See also

• Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
• National Labor Relations Board
• Ticket to Work

References

1. ^ http://www.apwu.org/join/women2008/lbportraits/portraits-labor-perkins.htm
2. ^ Frum, David (2000). How We Got Here: The '70s. New York, New York: Basic Books. p. 243. ISBN 0465041957. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Department of Labor of the United States

• United States Department of Labor Official Website
• Labor Certification Tracker: A Labor Certification tracker that lets users share and discuss the details of their labor applications, reducing guesswork and making it easier to estimate processing times.
• Immigration links A list of frequently used links for employment-based immigrants.
• Department Of Labor Meeting Notices and Rule Changes from The Federal Register RSS Feed

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v • d • e Agencies under the United States Department of Labor Secretary of Labor Deputy Secretary of Labor Administrative Review Board · Benefits Review Board · Bureau of International Labor Affairs · Bureau of Labor Statistics · Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives · Employees' Compensation Appeals Board · Employment Standards Administration · Employment and Training Administration · Mine Safety and Health Administration · Occupational Safety and Health Administration · Employee Benefits Security Administration · Veterans' Employment and Training Service · Women's Bureau

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