The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently announced the creation of the Office of Compliance Initiatives (OCI), a cross-agency effort coordinated by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy. DOL said that OCI will “promote greater understanding of federal labor laws and regulations, allowing job creators to prevent violations and protect Americans' wages, workplace safety and health, retirement security, and other rights and benefits.” OCI also “will work with enforcement agencies to refine their metrics to ensure the efficacy of the [DOL's] compliance assistance activities.”
OCI's work will include:
- Facilitating and encouraging a culture that promotes compliance assistance within the Department
- Providing employers and workers with access to high-quality, up-to-date information about their obligations and rights under federal labor laws and regulations
- Assisting enforcement agencies in developing new strategies to use data for more impactful compliance and enforcement strategies
- Enhancing outreach to stakeholders for the Department's enforcement agencies
The DOL also unveiled two new websites in conjunction with the creation of OCI are designed to assist workers and employers that have compliance questions. Worker.gov provides a centralized base of information focused on federal worker protections. Employer.gov provides job creators easy-to-understand information about their responsibilities under federal laws and regulations. The Department expects more effective compliance assistance will help the Department target enforcement resources on repeat and willful violators to level the playing field for America's job creators who abide by the law.
For more information contact Claiborne Guy at claiborne.guy@agc.org or 703-837-5382.