EMPLOYMENT STANDARDS ADMINISTRATION

In total, funds for the Employment Standards Administration (ESA) in FY 2001 will increase by $14.5 million compared with FY 2000. Staffing costs will increase by $34.9 million. Income Maintenance programs will decrease by $20.4 million.

1/ Includes $5.3 million in FY 2000 and $5.1 million in FY 2001 in H-1B fee revenue.
2/ Estimates include 129 FTE financed in FY 2001 in the Special Benefits account, using "fair share" funds.
3/ Excludes certain BLDTF Administrative expenses (see Departmental Management and Office of Inspector General sections in this package).

ESA STAFFING

* Includes H-1B Fees of $5.3 million in FY 2000 and $5.1 million in FY 2001.

The budget request for FY 2001 is for $429.5 million and 4,080 FTE, of which $399.0 million and 3,951 FTE is in the Salaries and Expenses account and $30.5 million and 129 FTE is in the Fair Share portion of the Special Benefits account. This is an increase for staffing of $34.9 million and 32 FTE over FY 2000. The request includes additional resources to continue the Administration's equal pay initiative, to strengthen enforcement of labor standards, including child labor, and to implement the FECA communications redesign.

Wage and Hour Standards
The FY 2001 budget request for the Wage and Hour Division is $157.8 million and 1,528 FTE. The Wage and Hour Division is responsible for the administration and enforcement of a wide range of laws which collectively cover virtually all private and state and local government employment. Wage and Hour Division activities include obtaining compliance with the minimum wage, overtime, child labor, and other employment standards under the Fair Labor Standards Act, Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act, certain provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act, Employee Polygraph Protection Act, the Immigration Nursing Relief Act, the wage garnishment provisions of the Consumer Credit Protection Act, and the Family and Medical Leave Act. Prevailing wages are determined and employment standards enforced under various Government contract wage standards. The request for Wage Hour includes an additional $1.5 million for the TECS (Technology for Excellent Customer Service) initiative, a computer based telephone system that will allow the Wage Hour program to respond to approximately 5 million calls from the public on compliance issues. The request includes $2.2 million to implement targeted enforcement tools, including strike teams, in the agriculture and garment industries; and $0.5 million for a Young Workers Safety Campaign that would provide information related to child labor building on DOL's Safe Harvest campaign. The request also includes $1.6 million to improve information technology capabilities.

Contractor EEO Enforcement
The FY 2001 budget request for OFCCP is $76.3 million and 813 FTE. The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) enforces regulations which ensure equal employment opportunity for minorities, women, individuals with disabilities, and disabled and Vietnam Era and other veterans. These requirements govern the employment practices of Federal contractors and subcontractors. They include Executive Order 11246, as amended; Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended; 38 USC 4212 and the Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974; Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990; and provisions of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 and 29 CFR 30. As part of the President's Equal Pay Initiative, OFCCP is requesting an additional $0.5 million to increase outreach, education, and technical assistance to federal contractors through industry partnerships on equal pay issues. The budget continues $4.2 million and 20 FTE enacted in FY 2000 for the Administration's Equal Pay initiative to help women obtain and retain employment in nontraditional jobs and to provide employers with the necessary tools to assess and improve their pay policies.

Federal Programs for Workers' Compensation
The FY 2001 budget request for the Office of Workers' Compensation Programs (OWCP) is $120.9 million and 1,184 FTE in the Salaries and Expenses account and $30.5 million and 129 FTE in the Special Benefits account using Fair Share funds. OWCP administers three major disability compensation programs by providing cash benefits, medical treatment, vocational rehabilitation, and other benefits to certain workers (or their dependents or survivors) who have work related injuries or disease. The FECA program provides income and medical cost protection to civilian employees of the Federal government injured at work and to certain other designated groups. The Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act (LSHWCA) program provides similar protection to private sector workers in certain maritime and related employment, and the Black Lung Benefits program provides protection to the Nation's coal miners suffering from pneumoconiosis. To continue the move towards a "paperless office" in FECA, OWCP is requesting $7.0 million in Fair Share funding. FECA will complete the installation of the district office imaging systems and begin converting files to electronic form. Also, OWCP is requesting $6.5 million ($750 thousand from Fair Share funding) for FECA's Communications Redesign/Customer Service initiative. A revamped FECA program communications system is needed to keep pace with the demanding annual influx of 165,000 injury reports, over 2 million medical bills, 5.5 million pieces of mail and 2 million telephone calls. The new system will apply communications industry best practices to match FECA customer needs, provide training for FECA staff as customer contact professionals, centralize call processing for medical services, expand customer access to the FECA program, simplify written materials, and better publicize program services and instructions to customers. OWCP is requesting $200 thousand for the Longshore program for a Vocational Rehabilitation Outcomes Study and $123 thousand for the Black Lung program for a Pulmonary Rehabilitation Outcomes Study. Both studies are designed to support proposed future strategic plan goals.

Office of Labor-Management Standards
The FY 2001 budget request for OLMS is $30.6 million and 290 FTE. The Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS) enforces provisions of Federal law that require reports from unions and others and establishes certain standards for union democracy and financial integrity. OLMS conducts criminal investigations (primarily embezzlement) and investigative audits of unions; conducts civil investigations (primarily concerning union officer elections); supervises remedial union officer election reruns as required; administers statutory reporting requirements and provides for public disclosure of filed reports. The OLMS Division of Statutory Programs certifies protective arrangements for transit employees when federal transit grants are used to acquire, improve, or operate a transit system. This budget request includes funding to complete the development and implementation of an electronic filing system for reports required by the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA) and for public disclosure via the Internet, a project begun in 1998. The new LM-2 system will be implemented in FY 2001. It also includes a request for $143 thousand and 2 FTE for the employee protections program.

Program Direction and Support
The FY 2001 budget request for Program Direction and Support (PDS) is $13.4 million and 119 FTE. This activity supports ESA's operating programs and assures effective management by providing planning, personnel management, financial management, Federal/state liaison programs, management systems implementation, and data processing.

ESA INCOME MAINTENANCE PROGRAMS (MANDATORY)

The budget requests a total of $1,180.7 million for income maintenance programs in ESA in FY 2000, a decrease of $20.4 million from FY 2001.

Special Benefits
The budget requests $56 million for Special Benefits in FY 2001. This includes $53 million for Federal Employees' Compensation Act benefits, and $3 million for Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation benefits. This account also includes a request for $30.5 million from Fair Share funding to finance 129 FTE, as described in the Staffing Section.

Federal Employees' Compensation Act Benefits
Funding is provided for long-term compensation benefits and certain medical payments for job-related injuries, diseases, or deaths of civilian employees of the Federal government and certain other designated groups. The Periodic Roll Management and Quality Case Management initiatives have contributed significantly to the reduction in overall FECA costs.

Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act Benefits
Funding is provided for one-half of the increased benefits provided by the 1972 amendments for persons receiving compensation for permanent total disability or death which commenced or occurred prior to the amendments. Long term compensation benefits and medical payments are provided for job-related injuries, diseases, or deaths of private sector workers in certain maritime and related employment.

Black Lung Disability Trust Fund
The budget request provide funds from the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund (BLDTF) in FY 2001 for benefit and interest payments and administrative expenses. This includes $409.3 million for benefits, $52.7 million for administrative expenses, and $566.0 million for interest payments.

The Black Lung Disability Trust Fund (BLDTF) is facing a growing indebtedness problem. BLDTF revenues, which consist primarily of excise taxes on coal, are not sufficient to repay its nearly $7 billion debt to the Treasury or to service the interest on that debt. Under current conditions, this indebtedness will continue to grow, with the BLDTF never becoming solvent, even when benefit outlays have declined to a level approaching zero. To solve this problem, the Administration will propose legislation that will: (1) authorize a refinancing of the outstanding BLDTF debt, (2) extend at current rates BLDTF excise taxes set to expire in January 2014, and (3) provide for a $1.5 billion appropriation to compensate the General Fund for the forgone prepayment premium (i.e. the difference between the discounted present value of the refinanced payment stream and the par value of the outstanding debt).

Disabled Coal Miner Benefits
Under this program, all black lung compensation/medical and survivor benefit expenses are provided when no responsible mine operator can be assigned liability for such benefits, or when coal mine employment ceased prior to 1970.

Administrative Expenses
This provides for all administrative costs incurred by the Department of Labor in the operation of the Black Lung program, including reimbursements to the Departments of Health and Human Services, and Treasury.

Interest on Advances
This appropriation also funds payment of interest on advances to the BLDTF from the general fund. In FY 2001, the amount of interest on advances is estimated to be $566.0 million.

Other Income Maintenance ProgramsThe budget requests $6.9 million for the Panama Canal Commission Fund and $153.0 million for the Special Workers' Compensation Expenses program.

Panama Canal Commission Fund
This provides for the accumulation of funds to meet the Panama Canal Commission's obligations to defray costs of workers' compensation which will accrue pursuant to FECA.

Special Workers' Compensation Expenses Payments from the Special Fund
Under the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act, as amended, trust funds in this program consist of amounts received from employers for the death of an employee where no person is entitled to compensation for such death, for fines and penalty payments, and pursuant to an annual assessment of the industry, for the general expenses of the funds. From these funds, certain long term compensation benefits and medical payments are provided for job-related injuries, diseases, or deaths of private sector workers in certain maritime and related employment.