Speeches by Secretary Elaine L. Chao

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“A New Culture of Responsibility: Making Worker Protections Work”
Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao
National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB)
National Small Business Summit
Washington, D.C.
June 14, 2002

Since this Administration has been in office, we have emphasized that we have an open-door policy to all stakeholders. And, that includes you, small business, which has been the engine of growth and prosperity in our country.

I have just returned from the International Labor Organization in Geneva, where I addressed all nations about the importance of government, employers, unions and employees working together to ensure that worker protections work. I strongly urged the ILO to review the model of compliance assistance, which I want to share with you today.

I strongly believe that we all must work together to make worker protections work.

That’s why I am here this morning: to let you know that in this new Administration, there will be a dialogue between your community and the federal government.

We have an open-door policy. We value a joint effort to work together to protect you and your employees. We don’t believe that the government knows it all and we understand that the way to learn and improve is through listening. And, we’ve been listening to small business.

Today, I’m here to announce that there is a new culture of responsibility being built at the Department of Labor—a responsibility for us to help you understand our exhaustive list of rules and regulations.

Because before any one can comply with regulations, these rules and regulations have got to be communicated clearly and understood.

Since its creation in 1913, the Department of Labor has been grounded in the idea that employers ought to be held responsible for the protection of their employees—protection of their wages, pensions, safety and health.

The former administration even acknowledged that over 95% of employers dutifully work to keep their employees safe. We know that the vast majority of employers take that responsibility very seriously. Employers who knowingly neglect or abuse their employees are a very, very small minority—and most secretaries of labor, regardless of party, have recognized that fact.

Yet the Department of Labor has never made its own responsibility to employers a priority… and it should have! It has rarely included itself among the most responsible parties. The heat has always been on employers.

The idea that the government ought to provide business with the knowledge and tools to help people comply with its regulations… the idea that this responsibility, these actions, should be a top priority of the Department of Labor… this is a hugely novel idea! And it’s an idea whose time has come.

Our existing enforcement practices will stay—and they’ll be more effective because they will be targeted on that small percentage of “bad actors.”

But we’re also going to bring a transparency to the regulatory jungle that is unprecedented in the federal government… because that’s the only way to make Worker Protections Work.

I’ve brought a piece of that regulatory jungle here with me today.

This big stack is just a few of the labor laws and regulations that you are expected to comply with.You know this—you have to face this every day. I wonder how many of us in government really realize the burden we are asking you to shoulder. Is this the most effective way to protect workers?!

There are more words in the Federal Register describing OSHA regulations than there are words in the Bible. They’re a lot less inspiring to read… and a lot harder to understand!

This is not fair.

It’s not fair that you are expected to know every rule and regulation without any decent help from the people who write them, promulgate them, and penalize you if you aren’t abiding by them!

It’s not fair to you, and it’s not fair to the American worker.

These rules and regulations were supposed to be written to protect workers… but so much more protection could be achieved if employers had more knowledge of their contents! That would be considerably more fair.

That’s why my team and I at the Department of Labor are in the process of painstakingly, deliberately, making the information in these books more helpful to you.

We’re creating new job descriptions for career Department of Labor employees. I’m talking about the people who will continue to work at the Department long after we are gone.

These new job descriptions will require them to help you. More importantly, they will forbid these DOL employees from referring you for investigation just because you asked a question!

Can you imagine a greater disincentive to find out what is the right thing to do? In the past, if you called up asking for clarification on the rules and regulations and unwittingly found out that you may have violated one, you could be referred for investigation.

We’ve also developed compliance materials in plain English, and on-line programs that answer your questions and direct you to information that is easy to understand.

And, if you don’t know what you don’t know, how are you supposed to ask what you don’t know, well… we’re aiming to make our on-line programs more helpful and interactive.

The change is taking place at two levels: first, the macro level, where we are embedding an over-arching change in culture and attitude at the Department.

A good example of this is the new attitude toward groups like NFIB. In the past, you were viewed as “competitors”—as if you somehow stood in the way of achieving worker protection.

But today our culture is changing to one where NFIB and other employer groups are viewed as allies. Now we encourage our agencies to form joint ventures with groups like yours, because workers will be better protected when employers, employees and the government work together.

I am also creating a new, permanent, senior position: a Director of Compliance Assistance. This person’s job will be making sure that all of the Department’s agencies are doing all they can to help employers comply with our regulations. This position will not be a political appointment… so its purpose will not change when the party of the administration changes.

The second level of this sweeping change is taking place, in detail, at the agency level. For example, OSHA is creating an office dedicated to small business that will serve as one-stop shopping for small-business owners like you.

This will be the first time that small-business concerns will become a permanent fixture in OSHA. And it will be filled with people whose job descriptions require them to work with groups like yours and help employers… they will function absolutely separately from inspection officers.

Our Wage and Hour division is going to take its Field Operations Handbook—the guide that tells inspectors what to look for in your business—and make it available to you. A novel idea!

In the past, it had been readily available to inspectors but not to business owners unless you made a special request through the Freedom of Information Act and pay the government a couple of hundred dollars – to get a copy! And, then you may have to wait several months to receive it!

You have in front of you a number of bookmarks—I encourage you to hold on to the number on these bookmarks—and know that the people who answer these phones are being paid to help you.

And when those phone operators transfer your call to OSHA or Wage and Hour… you should expect that the staff of those agencies will also treat you right. And your call will be anonymous.

Our service-focused call center does not have “Caller ID.” This is a new service at DOL. It’s one of the things I promised I’d deliver when I first talked about this initiative last year.

Your phone call will not be treated as a “tip” for enforcement. You will not be fined for asking a question.

So please call. We are the new Department of Labor and we want to help!

This new attitude is being implemented at every Labor Department agency. From OSHA to Wage and Hour to the Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration.

Members of my senior staff—the Deputy Secretary, Assistant Secretaries, their Deputies and Directors—are traveling all over the country to make sure that our regional employees understand this new, comprehensive approach.

Again, our overarching goal is one that we share with every employer in this room today: to protect employees.

The difference is that, now, we will also share the responsibility for that with you.

The fact is, we can’t achieve true worker protection through enforcement alone… we have to do more.

For example, it would take 175 years for our Wage and Hour investigators to inspect every workplace in the country. OSHA and other enforcement agencies face similar hurdles… because there are more than 7 million workplaces in the U.S.!

Instead, our goal is to touch every workplace in a positive way, through sharing information and offering a helping hand.

We want to bring about the day when someone answers your phone call and says, “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help” and it won’t make you laugh hysterically.

When we talk about this new initiative, we call it “compliance assistance.” We want to assist you, as business owners, to be in compliance with government regulations… because being in compliance means you and your employees are protected and you are not being harassed by your government.

It’s a win-win situation… one that we are determined to achieve not only while this administration is in office but as a permanent tradition at the Department of Labor.

Lastly, let me just say what a special organization NFIB is. You are respected here in Washington because of your role in helping to create a better and higher standard of living for Americans and your courage in fighting for principle.

The President knows that. Congress knows that.

That’s why Congress and the President abolished the death tax—and why we’re fighting to make that permanent.

It’s why the President and I are working so hard to bring you Association Health Plans, to make affordable health insurance more available to you and your employees. Let me assure you of our commitment to make AHPs the law of the land!

Without you… without the products and services you provide, the jobs you create and the sheer economic power that you bring to this great country… America would not be the land of opportunity that we know.

Thank you, and don’t be afraid to call us. We’re listening.

May God bless you, and may God bless America.

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U.S. Labor Department news releases are accessible on the Internet at www.dol.gov. The information in this release will be made available in alternate format upon request (large print, Braille, audio tape or disc)from the COAST office. Please specify which news release when placing your request. Call 202-693-7773 or TTY 202-693-7755.