In August, the U.S. Department of Labor announced the new Office of Compliance Initiatives to promote greater understanding of federal labor laws and regulations to help employers prevent violations.
According to the Department of Labor press release, the office will reside within the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy and its 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 Department also announced two new websites aimed at providing compliance assistance:
- worker.gov provides information about worker’s rights and common workplace concerns
- employer.gov provides information about the responsibilities of job creators toward their workers and answers common questions
According to the National Law Review, the websites do not provide a comprehensive listing or analysis of all rights and responsibilities that exist under every federal employment and labor law, but they do address topics that fall outside the jurisdiction of the DOL, such as employment discrimination laws that are enforced by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
Because the Office of Compliance Initiatives is so new, we have yet to see its full impact; however, employers and employees can consider it a resource for compliance issues.
Compliance Corner is a feature on the PeopleScout blog. At least once a month, we’ll be featuring a compliance issue that’s in the news or on our minds. Understanding the patchwork of labor laws across the world is complicated, but it’s part of what we do best. If you have questions on the compliance issue discussed in this post, please reach out to your PeopleScout account team or contact us at marketing@peoplescout.com.
