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Archived News Release--Caution: information may be out of date.

OPA Press Release: Secretary Herman Announces New Interactive Internet Program to Help Small Businesses and Workers with Workplace Laws [11/24/1997]

For more information call: 202-219-8211

With the click of a mouse, small businesses and workers can now get expert advice on their rights and responsibilities under nine employment laws. At a demonstration at American University today, Secretary of Labor Alexis M. Herman unveiled elaws (Employment Laws Assistance for Workers and Small Business), an interactive expert systems on workplace laws enforced by the Labor Department.

"With the advent of elaws, the Labor Department now ranks among the best federal agencies for providing information and technical assistance to its customers," said Herman. "Employers, workers, taxpayers--anyone with access to the Internet--can now become an expert on the laws affecting them."

The elaws have been designed to be particularly helpful to smaller businesses that do not have professional staff dedicated to following and understanding the latest regulatory developments of the Labor Department.

Each elaws system is a computer program that mimics the interaction an individual might have with a human expert. The elaws advisors, most of which will run interactively directly from the Internet, give advice and provide information on a specific law or regulation based on a worker's or employer's particular situation.

"Elaws uses the technology of the new workplace to help workers and their employers, particularly small business, to solve their employment law problems before they every reach the Labor Department," said Herman. "Our goal is compliance with employment laws, and elaws is another important tool to achieve that goal."

The Department of Labor now has nine advisors available on its website. All nine of the advisors can be accessed from www.dol.gov/elaws:

1. a Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) advisor;
2. a compliance guide for federal contractors and subcontractors;
3. an advisor on working safely with asbestos;
4. a fire safety advisor; and
5. an advisor on working safely in confined spaces.
6. an advisor for complying with the cadmium standard;
7. the Mine Safety and Health Administration's Form 7000-2 advisor;
8. the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment
9. a veterans' preference advisor.

Archived News Release--Caution: information may be out of date.