Department of Labor

Scope

The Department of Labor’s laws and the regulations that implement them cover workplace activities for about 10 million employers and 125 million workers.

Regulatory citations

• None

Key definitions

• None

Summary of requirements

The mission of the Department of Labor is to foster and promote the welfare of the job seekers, wage earners, and retirees of the United States by:

• Improving their working conditions,
• Advancing their opportunities for profitable employment,
• Protecting their retirement and healthcare benefits,
• Helping employers find workers,
• Strengthening free collective bargaining, and
• Tracking changes in employment, prices, and other national economic measurements.

In carrying out this mission, the Department administers and enforces over 180 federal labor laws including those that guarantee workers’ rights to safe and healthful working conditions; a minimum hourly wage and overtime pay; freedom from employment discrimination; unemployment insurance; and other income support.

The Secretary of Labor oversees the Department comprised of multiple administrations and agencies.

Laws and regulations administered by the Department of Labor. The following information provides a brief description of many of the principal statutes which commonly apply to businesses. It is not all-inclusive. For authoritative information on these laws, consult the statutes and regulations themselves.

• Wages and hours. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) prescribes standards for wages and overtime pay, which affect most private and public employment. It requires employers to pay covered employees at least the federal minimum wage and overtime pay of 1½ times the regular rate of pay. FLSA also restricts the hours that children under age 16 can work and forbids the employment of children under age 18 in hazardous jobs.
• Workplace safety and health. The Occupational Safety And Health Act (OSH) 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 systems, 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.
• Workers’ compensation. 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 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.
• The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act. This Act provides 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, and other illnesses.
• Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA). 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.
• 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.
• Pensions and welfare benefits. 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) 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.
• Unions and their members. 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.
• Employee protection. 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.
• Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act. 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).
• Employee Polygraph Protection Act. 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 wages. Garnishment of employee wages by employers is regulated under the Consumer Credit Protection Act which is administered by the Wage and Hour Division.
• The Family and Medical Leave Act. 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’ preference. 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.
• Government contracts, grants, or financial aid. 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.
  • McNamara-O’Hara Service Contract Act, which sets wage rates and other labor standards for employees of contractors furnishing services to the federal government.
  • 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.

• Migrant and seasonal agricultural workers. 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.
• Fair Labor Standards Act. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is administered by the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division. FLSA sets the minimum wage and overtime requirements (after 40 hours of work per week to non-exempt employees). It 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 years of age 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.
• Immigration and Nationality Act. This 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.
• Mine safety and health. 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.
• Construction. 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.
• Transportation. 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.
• Plant closings and layoffs. Plant closings and layoffs 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 the federal courts.