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September 16, 2008         DOL Home > OALJ Home > Mission Statement   
Mission Statement

Administrative law judges from the United States Department of Labor's Office of Administrative Law Judges preside over formal hearings concerning many labor-related matters. The office's mission is to render fair and equitable decisions under the governing law and the facts of each case.

Hearings concerning black lung benefits and longshore workers' compensation constitute the largest part of the office's work. The Department's administrative law judges, however, also hear and decide cases arising from over 80 labor-related statutes and regulations, including, for example, such diverse subjects as

  • grants administration relating to training of the unskilled and economically disadvantaged
  • civil rights
  • alien labor certifications and attestations
  • whistleblower complaints involving corporate fraud, nuclear, environmental, pipeline safety, aviation and commercial trucking statutes
  • minimum wage disputes
  • enforcement actions involving the working conditions of migrant farm laborers
  • disputes involving child labor violations hearings on mine safety variances
  • OSHA formal rulemaking proceedings
  • contract disputes
  • civil fraud in federal programs
  • employee polygraph tests
  • certain recordkeeping required by ERISA
  • standards of conduct in union elections.

The Office of Administrative Law Judges is headquartered in Washington, D.C. Since cases are heard throughout the country, however, District Offices are located in:

  • Boston, Massachusetts
  • Cherry Hill, New Jersey
  • Cincinnati, Ohio
  • Covington, Louisiana
  • Newport News, Virginia
  • Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
  • San Francisco, California

This office has been an innovator in administrative-adjudication with projects such as implementation of a computerized case-tracking system in the early 1980s, establishment of uniform rules of practice and procedure and rules of evidence that mirror the Rules of Civil Procedure and Rules of Evidence for the United States District Courts, development of a series of Judges' Benchbooks to assist judges in research on important case areas, implementation of a settlement judge procedure for alternative dispute resolution, and the use of electronic media for the dissemination of the Department's adjudicative decisions.


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