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OPA News Release: [02/26/2004]
Contact Name: Bob
Zachariasiewicz
Phone Number: (202) 693-4686
2005 Labor Budget Will Enhance Labor Law Enforcement,
Protect Workforce Health and Security, Labor Officials Testify
WASHINGTON—U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) officials said
today they will continue to focus on targeted enforcement and on compliance
assistance to help employers understand and comply with U.S. labor laws. Five
department officials discussed these and other priorities in the
department’s proposed FY 2005 budget for worker protection agencies in a
hearing before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human
Services, Education and Related Agencies.
Those testifying on behalf of DOL agencies were: Employment Standards
Administration Assistant Secretary Victoria A. Lipnic; Deputy Under Secretary
for International Labor Affairs Arnold Levine; Employee Benefits Security
Administration Assistant Secretary Ann L. Combs; Mine Safety and Health
Assistant Secretary Dave D. Lauriski; and Occupational Safety and Health
Assistant Secretary John Henshaw.
Following are some highlights from their testimony:
Employment Standards Administration (ESA)
ESA’s Lipnic testified that the department’s budget request
for ESA, DOL’s largest agency, is nearly $5.0 billion, including $527.6
million for administrative costs and $4.4 billion for workers’
compensation benefit costs.
ESA, which is responsible for administering laws governing wages and
working conditions, will continue to focus on enforcement as well as compliance
assistance. For example, funding for low-wage industry enforcement increases by
$1.1 million and 12 full-time positions in order to expand the enforcement
success the agency has had in targeting low-wage industries such as garment
manufacturing, health, and agriculture, to other low-wage industries. This
expanded approach will increase workplace protections for the most vulnerable
workers.
The agency is committed to building on its recent record of success,
including total back wages and overtime collected for workers. In FY 2003 total
back wages collected increased 21 percent over FY 2002, representing an 11-year
high. The number of workers who received back wages as a result of DOL
investigations increased by nearly 30 percent over FY 2002, from 263,593
workers to 342,358.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
Under the President’s proposed budget, enforcement remains a high
priority for OSHA, which is responsible for enforcing federal workplace health
and safety laws. OSHA has a budget request of $171 million for health and
safety law enforcement. The FY 2005 budget maintains compliance safety and
health officer strength at 1,123 and provides funding for all planned
inspections.
Occupational Safety and Health Administrator John Henshaw testified that
in FY 2003, OSHA conducted almost 40,000 inspections, an increase of more than
2,000 inspections over 2002 levels with more than half focused on high-hazard
industries.
OSHA’s responsibilities under 14 various whistleblower statutes
have expanded in recent years, especially with the addition of the Corporate
and Criminal Fraud Accountability Act (Sarbanes-Oxley). The budget includes an
additional $2 million to provide essential contract support to sustain the
investigative effort and expertise needed to handle whistleblower
investigations.
Mine Safety and Health Administration
MSHA’s FY 2005 budget request of $275.6 million will improve the
agency’s ability to change the conditions and practices that lend
themselves to injuries and fatalities, Assistant Secretary Lauriski told
subcommittee members. Lauriski said the budget emphasizes a balanced approach
to mine safety and health, supporting an effective blend of enforcement,
technical support, and education and training, with compliance assistance as a
common element of all three.
Fatalities in all mines decreased by 10 percent from FY 2002 to FY 2003,
and by 27 percent between FY 2000 and FY 2003. In the last three fiscal years,
MSHA’s total enforcement program site events, including inspections,
investigations or compliance activities, increased by 16 percent. MSHA
completed some 99 percent of planned inspections for coal mines between FY 2000
and FY 2003, and the inspection rate for metal and nonmetal mines jumped to 88
percent from 74 percent of required inspections during the same period.
Employee Benefits Security Administration
The budget includes $132 million for the Employee Benefits Security
Administration (EBSA), an $8.3 million increase and 7 percent more than its FY
2004 budget. EBSA oversees more than six million private benefit plans with
some $4.8 trillion in assets.
To complement this increase, the Administration will continue to press
for enactment of the President’s retirement security plan, which will give
workers better information on their retirement savings; increase access to
investment advice; and provide more freedom to diversify investments,
EBSA’s Combs said during testimony.
EBSA obtained more than $1.4 billion in record monetary results in 2003
through strong enforcement of the law that protects pension, 401(k) and health
benefit plans and trusts.
International Labor Affairs
The Bush Administration has proposed a budget of $30 million in FY 2005
for the Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB). The agency will use the
funding for grants and other programs to continue to combat the worst forms of
child labor and to help developing countries improve their labor laws and the
enforcement of worker rights.
Levine noted that ILAB’s major mission is to ensure that all
workers have the opportunity to enjoy greater economic security, share in the
benefits of increased international trade and have safer and healthier
workplaces. The agency also devotes funding to protect children from the worst
forms of child labor abuses.
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