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The Department of Labor (DOL) 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.
Following is a brief description of many of DOL's principal
statutes most commonly applicable to businesses, job seekers, workers,
retirees, contractors and grantees. This brief summary is intended to acquaint
you with the major labor laws and not to offer a detailed exposition. For
authoritative information on these laws, you should consult the statutes and
regulations themselves; however you will find references to fuller descriptions
than that contained under Advisories at the end of
this fact sheet and at DOL's compliance assistance Web
site.
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) prescribes standards
for wages and overtime pay, which affect most private and public employment.
The act is administered by the Wage and Hour
Division of the Employment Standards Administration
(ESA). It requires employers to pay covered employees who are not otherwise
exempt at least the federal minimum wage and overtime pay of
one-and-one-half-times the regular rate of pay. For nonagricultural operations,
it restricts the hours that children under age 16 can work and forbids the
employment of children under age 18 in certain jobs deemed too dangerous. For
agricultural operations, it prohibits the employment of children under age 16
during school hours and in certain jobs deemed too dangerous.
The Wage and Hour Division also enforces the labor standards provisions
of the Immigration and Nationality Act that apply to aliens authorized to work
in the U.S. under certain nonimmigrant visa programs (H-1B, H-1B1, H-1C,
H2A).
The Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act is
administered by the Occupational Safety and
Health Administration (OSHA). Safety and health conditions in most private
industries are regulated by OSHA or OSHA-approved state programs, which also
cover public sector employers. Employers covered by the OSH Act must comply
with the regulations and the safety and health standards promulgated by OSHA.
Employers also have a general duty under the OSH Act to provide their employees
with work and a workplace free from recognized, serious hazards. OSHA enforces
the Act through workplace inspections and investigations. Compliance assistance
and other cooperative programs are also available.
The Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act (LHWCA), administered
by ESA's Office of Workers Compensation Programs
(OWCP), provides for compensation and medical care to certain maritime
employees (including a longshore worker or other person in longshore
operations, and any harbor worker, including a ship repairer, shipbuilder, and
shipbreaker) and to qualified dependent survivors of such employees who are
disabled or die due to injuries that occur on the navigable waters of the
United States, or in adjoining areas customarily used in loading, unloading,
repairing or building a vessel.
The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act is a
compensation program that provides a lump-sum payment of $150,000 and
prospective medical benefits to employees (or certain of their survivors) of
the Department of Energy and its contractors and subcontractors as a result of
cancer caused by exposure to radiation, or certain illnesses caused by exposure
to beryllium or silica incurred in the performance of duty, as well as for
payment of a lump-sum of $50,000 and prospective medical benefits to
individuals (or certain of their survivors) determined by the Department of
Justice to be eligible for compensation as uranium workers under section 5 of
the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act.
The Federal Employees' Compensation Act (FECA), 5 U.S.C. 8101 et seq.,
establishes a comprehensive and exclusive workers' compensation program which
pays compensation for the disability or death of a federal employee resulting
from personal injury sustained while in the performance of duty. The FECA,
administered by OWCP, provides benefits for wage loss compensation for total or
partial disability, schedule awards for permanent loss or loss of use of
specified members of the body, related medical costs, and vocational
rehabilitation.
The Black Lung Benefits Act provides monthly cash payments and medical
benefits to coal miners totally disabled from pneumoconiosis ("black lung
disease") arising from their employment in the nation's coal mines. The statute
also provides monthly benefits to a deceased miner's survivors if the miner's
death was due to black lung disease.
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)
regulates employers who offer pension or welfare benefit plans for their
employees. Title I of ERISA is administered by the Employee
Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) (formerly the Pension and Welfare
Benefits Administration) and imposes a wide range of fiduciary, disclosure and
reporting requirements on fiduciaries of pension and welfare benefit plans and
on others having dealings with these plans. These provisions preempt many
similar state laws. Under Title IV, certain employers and plan administrators
must fund an insurance system to protect certain kinds of retirement benefits,
with premiums paid to the federal government's
Pension
Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC). EBSA also administers reporting
requirements for continuation of health-care provisions, required under the
Comprehensive Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA) and the health
care portability requirements on group plans under the Health Insurance
Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
The Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959
(also known as the Landrum-Griffin Act) deals with the relationship between a
union and its members. It protects union funds and promotes union democracy by
requiring labor organizations to file annual financial reports, by requiring
union officials, employers, and labor consultants to file reports regarding
certain labor relations practices, and by establishing standards for the
election of union officers. The act is administered by the
Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS),
which is part of ESA.
Most labor and public safety laws and many environmental
laws mandate whistleblower protections for employees who complain about
violations of the law by their employers. Remedies can include job
reinstatement and payment of back wages. OSHA
enforces the whistleblower protections in most laws.
Certain persons who serve in the armed forces have a right
to reemployment with the employer they were with when they entered service.
This includes those called up from the reserves or National Guard. These rights
are administered by the Veterans' Employment and Training
Service (VETS).
This law bars most employers from using lie detectors on employees, but
permits polygraph tests only in limited circumstances. It is administered by
the Wage and Hour Division.
Garnishment of employee wages by employers is regulated under the
Consumer Credit Protection Act which is administered by the Wage and Hour Division.
Administered by the Wage and Hour
Division, the law requires employers of 50 or more employees to give up to
12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave to eligible employees for the birth or
adoption of a child or for the serious illness of the employee or a spouse,
child or parent.
Veterans and other eligible persons have special employment rights with
the federal government. They are provided preference in initial hiring and
protection in reductions in force. Claims of violation of these rights are
investigated by the Veterans' Employment and Training Service
(VETS).
Recipients of government contracts, grants or financial aid
are subject to wage, hour, benefits, and safety and health standards under:
- The Davis-Bacon Act, which requires payment of prevailing wages and
benefits to employees of contractors engaged in federal government construction
projects;
- The McNamara-O'Hara Service Contract Act, which sets wage rates and
other labor standards for employees of contractors furnishing services to the
federal government;
- The Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act, which requires payment of
minimum wages and other labor standards by contractors providing materials and
supplies to the federal government.
Administration and enforcement of these laws are by the
Wage and Hour Division. ESA's
Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs
(OFCCP) administers and enforces three federal contract-based civil rights
laws that require most federal contractors and subcontractors, as well as
federally assisted construction contractors, to provide equal employment
opportunity. The Office of the Assistant
Secretary for Administration and Management's (OASAM)
Civil Rights Center administers and enforces
several federal assistance based civil rights laws requiring recipients of
federal financial assistance from Department of Labor to provide equal
opportunity.
The Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act
regulates the hiring and employment activities of agricultural employers, farm
labor contractors, and associations using migrant and seasonal agricultural
workers. The Act prescribes wage protections, housing and transportation safety
standards, farm labor contractor registration requirements, and disclosure
requirements. The Wage and Hour Division administers
this law.
The Fair Labor Standards Act exempts agricultural workers
from overtime premium pay, but requires the payment of the minimum wage to
workers employed on larger farms (farms employing more than approximately seven
full-time workers. The Act has special child-labor regulations that apply to
agricultural employment; children under 16 are forbidden to work during school
hours and in certain jobs deemed too dangerous. Children employed on their
families' farms are exempt from these regulations. The Wage
and Hour Division administers this law. OSHA also has special safety and
health standards that may apply to agricultural operations.
The Immigration and Nationality Act requires employers who
want to use foreign temporary workers on H-2A visas to get a labor certificate
from the Employment and Training
Administration certifying that there are not sufficient, able, willing and
qualified U.S. workers available to do the work. The labor standards
protections of the H-2A program are enforced by ESA's Wage
and Hour Division.
The Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 covers all
people who work on mine property. The Mine Safety
and Health Administration (MSHA) administers this Act.
The Mine Act holds mine operators responsible for the
safety and health of miners; provides for the setting of mandatory safety and
health standards, mandates miners' training requirements; prescribes penalties
for violations; and enables inspectors to close dangerous mines. The safety and
health standards address numerous hazards including roof falls, flammable and
explosive gases, fire, electricity, equipment rollovers and maintenance,
airborne contaminants, noise, and respirable dust. MSHA enforces safety and
health requirements at more than 13,000 mines, investigates mine accidents, and
offers mine operators training, technical and compliance assistance.
Several agencies administer programs related solely to the
construction industry. OSHA has special occupational safety and health
standards for construction; ESA's Wage and Hour
Division, under Davis-Bacon and related acts, requires payment of
prevailing wages and benefits; ESA's Office of
Federal Contract Compliance Programs enforces Executive Order 11246, which
requires federal construction contractors and subcontractors, as well as
federally assisted construction contractors, to provide equal employment
opportunity; the anti-kickback section of the Copeland Act precludes a federal
contractor from inducing any employee to sacrifice any part of the compensation
required.
Most laws with labor provisions regulating the
transportation industry are administered by agencies outside the Department of
Labor. However, longshoring and maritime industry safety and health standards
are issued and enforced by OSHA. The
Longshoring and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act, administered by
ESA, requires employers to assure that workers'
compensation is funded and available to eligible employees. In addition, the
rights of employees in the mass transit industry are protected when federal
funds are used to acquire, improve, or operate a transit system. Under the
Federal Transit law, the Department of Labor is responsible for approving
employee protection arrangements before the department of Transportation can
release funds to grantees.
Such occurrences may be subject to the Worker Adjustment and Retraining
Notification Act (WARN). WARN offers employees early warning of impending
layoffs or plant closings. The Employment and
Training Administration (ETA) provides information to the public on WARN,
though neither ETA nor the Department of Labor has administrative
responsibility for the statute, which is enforced through private action in the
federal courts.
For more details and guidance on laws and regulations
covered in this fact sheet, call the appropriate Department of Labor agency
listed in your phone book under U.S. Government.
Other federal agencies besides the Department of Labor
enforce laws and regulations that affect employers. Statutes that ensure
non-discrimination in employment are generally enforced by the
Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The Taft-Hartley Act regulates a
wide range of employer-employee conduct and is administered by the
National
Labor Relations Board (NLRB). For more information on these laws, consult
these agencies; they are listed in your phone book under U.S. Government.
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