Shifting the focus of regulatory programs from enforcement to compliance assistance is one of the U.S. Department of Labor´s (DOL) main goals for fiscal year (FY) 2003, the agency said in a performance plan released Feb. 4 in conjunction with the agency´s proposed budget.
"Consistent with the department´s commitment to enforcement, we will work together with employers on better prevention strategies, avoiding whenever possible the loss of life, health or economic well-being that fines and penalties can never fully redress," DOL stated in the 132-page report.
Regarding its strategy to prevent violations of worker protection laws including the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), DOL said it plans to increase the number of complaints it resolves within 90 days, to decrease employer-violation recidivism, and to increase compliance in industries with chronic violations. "All three goals recognize that the key to ensuring workers´ rights is to focus efforts on the industries and employers with the most persistent and serious violations, and to resolve issues as expeditiously as possible," the agency stated.
Specifically, DOL is targeting the garment industries in California and New York City as well as the long-term health care and agricultural commodities industries.
The agency plans to conduct more garment home worker cases jointly with California state agencies and to decrease the number of California employers that pay workers off the books. DOL also wants to increase the number of California manufacturers monitoring their contractor shops and to increase the number of payroll reviews and visits to contractors.
In New York, the agency plans to increase the number of employers that comply with worker-protection laws by offering more compliance education. Further, DOL wants to increase the compliance of employers that have violated the FLSA´s "hot goods" provision (29 U.S.C. §215(a)(1)) - a rule that prohibits employers from purchasing or shipping goods manufactured in violation of the child labor laws. DOL plans to significantly increase - by 20 percent - the number of complaints it refers to state agencies for litigation.
Regarding nursing homes, DOL said its strategy for the coming fiscal year is to increase compliance in facilities with staffing shortages and to increase the number of nursing homes that provide employees with information on their rights.
DOL´s performance plan also includes conducting more investigations of nursing homes that have not been found in violation of employment laws and increasing the number residential-living employers that are paying workers proper overtime pay under the FLSA.
Although the agency said it also plans to target the agricultural industry, it did not outline a strategy for this in the performance plan.
DOL´s other goals for 2003 include ensuring the security of retirement and savings plans; fostering competition, accountability and transparency in programs receiving grants from DOL; and ensuring effective job training in programs sponsored by the agency and its partners.
DOL plans to complete 38,000 Wage and Hour compliance actions in FY 2003, which is the same number targeted for FY 2002, according to information included in DOL´s proposed budget.