Oklahoma Labor Commissioner
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The Oklahoma Commissioner of Labor is an elective executive officer of the State of Oklahoma. The Labor Commissioner serves as the head of the Oklahoma Department of Labor. The Labor Commissioner is responsible for supervising the administration of all state laws relating to labor and workplace safety and gathers and publishes information about the workforce of Oklahoma.
The current Labor Commissioner is Lloyd Fields who was elected to his first term in 2006.
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[edit] History
The Oklahoma Department of Labor was created by the Oklahoma Constitution in 1907. In August of that year, delegates from the labor unions of the Twin-Territorial Federation of Labor, the State Farmers' Union and the Railroad Brotherhoods met in Shawnee, Oklahoma, to formulate a list of demands for the upcoming constitutional convention. One demand called for the establishment of a State Labor Department.
Consequently, when the new state constitution was ratified by the delegates to the constitutional convention in 1907, the Oklahoma Department of Labor was created, with the Labor Commissioner as its head. The Labor Commissioner is responsible for the enforcement of labor laws that promote fairness and equity in the workforce, including state wage laws, workers' compensation compliance, state OSHA laws for public employers, asbestos compliance, child labor laws and various other duties.
The office of the Labor Commissioner has been both appointive and elective at various times in Oklahoma's history.
[edit] Term of Office
The Labor Commissioner serves as four year term that runs concurrent with that of the Governor of Oklahoma.
[edit] Powers and Responsibilities
The Oklahoma Constitution sets two responsibilties for the Labor Commissioner: (1) serve as the head of the Department of Labor and (2) serve as the chairman of the Board of Arbitration and Conciliation in the Department of Labor. As such, the vast majority of the Labor Commissioner's responsibilities are determined by acts of the Oklahoma Legislature.
As the head of the Labor Department, the Labor Commissioner is the chief executive officer of the Department and supervises the work of that Department. In doing so, the Labor Commissioner is to foster, promote, and develop the welfare of workers, to improve working conditions of workers, to advance opportunities of workers for profitable employment, and for carrying into effect all laws in relation to labor enacted by the Legislature. In preforming his official duties, the Labor Commissioner may administer oaths, issue subpoenas for the attendance of witnesses and take testimony in all matters relating to the proper enforcement of all laws over which the Commissioner has supervision of.
[edit] Labor Divisions
As the head of the Department of Labor, the Labor Commissioner supervises, directs, and controls the following agencies Labor Divisions:
- Administration - provides administrative support and handles the business functions of the Department, including responsibility for communications, finance and accounting, human resources, purchasing, research, agency legal services, legislative affairs and constituent services, information technology and data processing services, mail and reception
- Asbestos Division - responsible for ensuring asbestos abatement projects are accomplished safely and in accordance with the law, and also administers an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant program to manage asbestos hazards in schools
- Child Labor Unit - responsible for enforcement of Oklahoma's Child Labor statutes
- Licensing Unit - handles licensing for private employment agencies (where fees are paid by the employee rather than the employer), persons who conduct activities relating to asbestos, and most welders, weld test facilities and weld inspectors
- Public Employee Occupational Safety and Health Unit (PEOSH) - provides consultation and enforcement services to public sector employers to protect public employees from workplace accidents and injuries.
- Safety Pay OSHA Consultation Division - provides free, confidential, voluntary and non-punitive safety and health consultation services to private sector employers in the state
- Safety Standards Division - regulates the installation, operation and maintenance of boilers, pressure vessels, hot water heaters and amusement rides, and also regulates welding practices
- Statistical Research Analysis Unit - responsible for conducting occupational safety and health surveys in conjunction with the United States Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics and for providing incident and research information to assist safety officials with their safety programs.
- Wage and Hour Unit - responsible for processing all wage claims under the Labor Department's jurisdiction
- Workers' Compensation Enforcement Unit - ensures that all employers comply with the Oklahoma Workers' Compensation Act by providing appropriate coverage for their employees
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
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