United States Department of Labor

United States
Department of Labor
US-DeptOfLabor-Seal.svg
Seal of the Department of Labor
Agency overview
Formed March 4, 1913
Headquarters Frances Perkins Building
200 Constitution Avenue NW
Washington, DC
Employees 17,477 (2010)
Annual budget $126.3 billion (2009); $104.5 Billion (2010)[1]
Agency executives Hilda Solis, Secretary
Seth 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 of Labor. Seth Harris is the current Deputy Secretary of Labor.

The purpose of the Department of Labor (DOL) is to foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners, job seekers, and retirees of the United States; improve working conditions; advance opportunities for profitable employment; and assure work-related benefits and rights. In carrying out this mission, the Department of Labor administers and enforces more than 180 federal laws. These mandates and the regulations that implement them cover many workplace activities for about 10 million employers and 125 million workers.

The Department’s headquarters is housed in the Frances Perkins Building, named in honor of Frances Perkins, the Secretary of Labor from 1933–1945 and the first female cabinet secretary in U.S. history.[2]

Contents

History

The Frances Perkins Building in Washington, D.C., serves as headquarters for the U.S. Department of Labor.

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. 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.[3]

During the John F. Kennedy Administration, planning was undertaken to consolidate most of the department's offices, then scattered around more than 20 locations. Construction on the "New Labor Building" began in the middle 1960s and finished in 1975. It was named in honor of Perkins in 1980.

Current

Saying that they were going to take to the streets to picket and embarrass the Secretary, members of AFGE Local 12 have voiced their dissatisfaction with Solis. [4] Some members have indicated they would set up a giant rat on Constitution Avenue in view of the Secretary's office in the Frances Perkins Building.[5]

Labor employees are upset that Solis has refused to bargain a new contract with the union.[6] They also claim she is ignoring them and their requests, and has left in place many of the harsh labor rules implemented by Elaine Chao during her administration. [7] During a recent union meeting, union President Alex Bastiani noted that this unfriendly treatment goes against President Obama's efforts to make the federal workforce more family friendly. [5][8]

In August 2010, the Partnership for Public Service ranked the Department as one of the ten worst places to work in the federal government.[9]

Operating units

  • 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)
  • Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)
  • Employees' Compensation Appeals Board (ECAB)
  • Employment and Training Administration (ETA)
  • Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA)
  • Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
  • Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP)
  • Office of Inspector General (OIG)
  • Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS)
  • Office of Workers' Compensation Programs (OWCP)
  • Veterans' Employment and Training Service (VETS)
  • Wage and Hour Division (WHD)
  • Women's Bureau (WB)
Official emblem of the Office of Disability Employment Policy

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 21st Century Workforce (21CW)
  • 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)
  • 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
  • 1974 - Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) Pub.L. 93-406
  • 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

References

  1. ↑ FY 2010 Department of Labor Budget in Brief
  2. ↑ APWU.org
  3. ↑ Frum, David (2000). How We Got Here: The '70s. New York, New York: Basic Books. p. 243. ISBN 0465041957. 
  4. ↑ Wright, Adam (April 1, 2010). "Fed Up DOL Employees "Ready To March"". Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO. http://www.dclabor.org/ht/display/ArticleDetails/i/84428. Retrieved 1 April 2010. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Bastiani, Alex (April 1, 2010). "Core hours Petition". AFGE Local 12. http://www.afge12.org/CoreHoursPetitionLettertoKerr.pdf. Retrieved 1 April 2010. 
  6. ↑ Solis, Hilda (March 9, 2010). "The Secretary's Town Hall Transcript". U.S. DOL. http://www.dol.gov/dol/media/webcast/20100309-solistownhall/20100309-solistownhall-text.htm. Retrieved 1 April 2010. 
  7. ↑ Wright, Adam (March 16, 2010). "Local AFGE Steward "Speaks Truth To Power" At DOL". Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO. http://www.dclabor.org/ht/d/ArticleDetails/i/84010. Retrieved 1 April 2010. 
  8. ↑ Kamen, Al (2010-04-23). "AFGE pushes for flextime at Labor Department". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/22/AR2010042205756.html. Retrieved 2010-04-26. 
  9. ↑ O'Keefe, Ed (2010-09-01). "Best places to work' rankings put Nuclear Regulatory Commission at top of federal workplace heap". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/01/AR2010090100046.html. Retrieved 2010-09-01. 

External links

United States federal executive departments

Agriculture • Commerce • Defense • Education • Energy • Health and Human Services • Homeland Security • Housing and Urban Development • Interior • Justice • Labor • State • Transportation • Treasury • Veterans Affairs
Past departments:  Commerce and Labor • Health, Education, and Welfare • Navy • Post Office • War
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 · Employee Benefits Security Administration · Employment and Training Administration  · Mine Safety and Health Administration  · Occupational Safety and Health Administration · Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs  · Office of Labor-Management Standards  · Office of Workers' Compensation Programs  · Veterans' Employment and Training Service · Wage and Hour Division  · Women's Bureau
 United States Department of Labor Seal