Editor’s note: This comment policy was last updated on Sept. 9, 2016.
We encourage you to share your thoughts as they relate to the topic being discussed, but expect all comments to be courteous. The views expressed in comments reflect those of the commenter, not the official views of the U.S. Department of Labor or the federal government.
We would like to publish your comments, but we also endeavor to maintain a commenting environment that is consistently topical, courteous, and respectful of all commenters. To that end, we have established the following policy. We reserve the right to moderate, remove or reject (not publish) comments that contain:
- Social Security Numbers, home or business addresses, e-mail addresses, phone numbers, or other personally identifiable information (PII).
- Vulgar or abusive language or images.
- Personal attacks of any kind, threats or defamatory statements.
- Offensive terms or derogatory statements that target specific groups by race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, ethnicity, age, religion or disability.
- Spam or comments that are off topic. This includes:
- Comments irrelevant to the topic discussed.
- Multiple, successive off-topic posts by a single user.
- Repetitive posts copied and pasted by multiple users.
- Spam or comments that are automated.
- Promotions of services or products.
- Solicitations of funds or for business.
- Links to external websites or applications (noncommercial links relevant to the topic or another comment may be acceptable).
- Classified or proprietary information, or information protected by other statutory or regulatory regimes (intellectual property, copyrighted materials, licensed materials, privacy protected information, etc.).
Repeated violations of this comment policy may cause the author to be blocked for 90 days from the platform on which the comment was submitted. Two warnings will be issued before action is taken.
Any claims, demands, formal complaints, or any other form of legal and/or administrative notices or processes should be directed to the appropriate agency. Similarly, reports of criminal or suspicious activity should be directed to the appropriate law enforcement agency.
We recognize that the Internet is a 24/7 medium. However, given the need to manage federal resources, we intend to review and post comments from 8:30 am – 5 pm ET Monday through Friday except for on federal holidays. We intend to review and post comments submitted at other times as soon as possible on the next business day.
Reporters are asked to submit questions through the DOL newsroom, rather than submitting questions here as comments.
Communications will in no way constitute a legal or official notice or comment to the U.S. Department Labor or any official or employee of the department for any purpose.
Privacy
To protect your privacy, do not include any information in your comment (e.g., your e-mail address or phone number) that could be used to identify you.
In some cases we ask you to provide your name and e-mail address, although providing either is optional. We request your name to make it easier to carry on a conversation. For this reason, we publish your name along with your comment. We ask for your e-mail address so that we can contact you if necessary. It is our policy not to publish your e-mail address.
Note that information, including PII, that you voluntarily submit to or publish on a Labor Department page on a third party site may be treated as public information and archived accordingly in order to abide with applicable laws.
You may also want to read our privacy and security statement to learn more about how we protect your privacy and personal information.
Copyright, Restrictions and Permissions Notice
Copyrighted and other proprietary material should not be posted or submitted in any form unless permission to do so is clearly indicated. In posting his or her own comments or other work, a commenter grants the Labor Department and anyone viewing the Labor Department website irrevocable permission to copy, distribute, make derivatives, display or perform the commenter’s work publicly and free-of-charge.
Materials created by the federal government, including blog posts, are generally part of the public domain and may be used, reproduced and distributed without permission. However, not all materials on this blog were created by the federal government. Read our copyright policy for more information.
Accessibility
The Department of Labor is committed to providing access to all individuals who are seeking information from our Web site and blog. Learn more in our accessibility statement.
Any individual using assistive technology (such as a screen reader, Braille reader, etc.) who experiences difficulty accessing information on any DOL Web site, should email webmaster@dol.gov. The email should include the nature of the accessibility problem and the individual’s email address for a response. If the accessibility problem involves a particular Web page, the message should include the URL (Web address) of the page.
Outside websites
When you select a link to an outside website, you are leaving this blog and are subject to the privacy and security policies of the owners/sponsors of the outside website. The Department of Labor does not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness or completeness of information contained on a linked website. We are not responsible for transmissions users receive from linked websites. Additionally, we cannot guarantee that outside websites comply with Section 508 (Accessibility Requirements) of the Rehabilitation Act. More information is available in our external linking policy.
Questions?
Thank you for taking the time to read this comment policy. We encourage your participation in our discussions and look forward to an active exchange of ideas. If you have questions about this comment policy or how we apply it, please contact us.
