The Department of Labor (DOL) released its shutdown plan of how it will operate if there is no deal on government funding by midnight tomorrow. The plan states that: “The following agencies will completely cease operations, other than orderly shutdown: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Veterans Employment and Training Service, Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, Office of Disability Employment Policy, Women’s Bureau, Office of Administrative Law Judges, Administrative Review Board, Benefits Review Board, and Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board.”
Moreover, except for functions “for which non-annual funds are available or that fall within an excepted activity, all worker protection agency investigations will cease unless they involve responding to or preventing fatalities, catastrophes, or imminent danger.” Additionally, “unless excepted or exempt, agencies’ technical assistance, compliance assistance, regulatory, policy, research, advisories, responding to inquiries, most oversight, hearing preparation, and cooperative activities will cease.”
Under the plan, only ten of the Wage and Hour Division’s 1,270 employees will work during a shutdown. Seven of these 10 WHD employees will “monitor incoming complaints and respond to emergencies in order to prevent irreparable harm, respond to and investigate any incidents involving child labor violations, including those that involve employment in occupations determined to be hazardous, serious injury or death of a minor, respond to and investigate any transportation accident or allegations of housing safety violations involving serious injury or death of a farm worker, and execute search warrants and/or deliver subpoenas and receive records.” WHD will not be processing prevailing wage determinations during a shutdown.
Separately, only 460 of OSHA’s 1,664 staff will work during a shutdown. Of these, 280 OSHA staff will be dedicated to functions “necessary to protect life and property.” This includes investigating: (1) imminent danger situations; (2) workplace fatalities and catastrophes; and (3) following up on inspections with high gravity serious violations and no abatement. Additionally, 170 OSHA staff will continue to “review whistleblower complaints received during a shutdown in order to identify, and promptly refer to the appropriate agency or agencies, any complaint that identifies a workplace or public safety and/or health condition that…is reasonably likely to pose, an imminent threat to the safety of human life or the protection of property, thus requiring an immediate response.”
At EBSA, 164 of the agency’s 668 employees will work during a shutdown. Of these, 117 EBSA staff will continue operating under supplemental appropriations implementing the No Surprises Act and to enforce “enhanced requirements for group health plans related to compliance with the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act.”