Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis recently submitted the Department of Labor (DOL's) proposed budget, which, she states, will restore worker protection programs, promote green jobs, and ensure accountability and transparency.

Solis stated that she intends to use the money to provide significant additional resources for worker protection agencies, specifically the Wage and Hour Division of DOL, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

Under this budget, the DOL expects to hire nearly 1,000 new employees, including about 670 investigators.   Secretary Solis indicated that 670 of the new hires would focus on frontline enforcement of the new regulations.  Considering the budget focus on adding staff, it is safe to say that the government is planning to process considerably more cases in 2010 than in prior years.

The budget request includes an increase of $35 million in funding for the Wage and Hour Division. According to the DOL, this includes funding to hire 200 new investigators.  According to the DOL, these increases will provide the agency to “vigorously protect wages and working conditions of the 135 million workers in more than 7.3 million workplaces."

The DOL's budget request also includes an increase of approximately $51 million for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). With this funding, the DOL plans to hire 160 new enforcement staff, many of whom will be bilingual.  

The proposed budget also includes a $25.6 million increase for the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP).   This increase will be used to add 213 full-time employees to the OFCCP staff.  This will represent a 36.4% increase in the OFCCP staff size compared to FY 2009.  Part of the budget increase will go toward the development of a new case management system and the OFCCP has stated a goal of continuing to increase the number of compliance reviews they perform. They have also specifically stated that their hiring efforts will be directed toward front-line investigators.

What do these increases mean for employers?  Aggressive enforcement by the agencies of employment laws!  Employers should expect the agencies to more aggressively enforce laws in more marginal cases than in the past as well as in areas of renewed focus such as wage and hour violations and unfair labor practices.  Employers should also expect agency enforcement of the laws recently enacted in the last twelve months.

Employers need to take steps now to ensure they are in compliance with all applicable federal regulations governing the workplace.

View other news articles from September 2009