Articles Discussing Government Agencies That Oversee The Workplace.

Now that all indices point to a more prolonged federal government shutdown than originally anticipated, agencies have issued additional information about their limited functions during this period. As previously discussed, the Department of Labor, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and National Labor Relations Board released their contingency plans ahead of the government closing. Given a solution to the budgetary wrangling does not appear imminent, agencies have supplemented their initial plans as follows.

With the prospect of a federal government shutdown becoming closer to a reality, several agencies have issued their contingency plans, explaining which operations would continue, and which functions would come to a halt during the shutdown period. According to these plans, most non-essential tasks carried out by the Department of Labor (DOL), Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) will cease.

Executive Summary: Recently, two different federal courts have invalidated statutory interpretations by the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD). Generally, WHD may create regulations on its own to assist in clarifying ambiguities and to fill statutory gaps within the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The current administration has used this administrative process to modify the law in ways that advance its agenda, often without much, if any, input from employers. The federal court decisions striking down the DOL’s aggressive campaign to modify wage-and-hour law through the regulatory process will hopefully send a message that the DOL must stay within the powers delegated to it by Congress, including obtaining employer perspectives when necessary.