Labor Laws

The Department of Labor (DOL) administers and enforces more than 180 federal laws. These mandates and the policy that implement them cover much workplace behavior for about 10 million employers and 125 million workers.

Here is a brief report of many of DOL's principal statutes usually applied to businesses, job seekers, workers, retirees, contractors and grantees. This brief summary is planned to explain you with the major labor laws but not to provide a full explanation. For reliable information on these laws, you should consult the statutes and regulations themselves; however you will find references to fuller descriptions than that contained under Advisories at the end of this fact sheet and at DOL's compliance assistance Web site.

Wages and Hours

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) prescribes values for wages and overtime pay, which influence most private and public employment. The act is administered by the Wage and Hour Division of the Employment Standards Administration (ESA). It requires employers to pay covered employees who are not otherwise exempt at least the federal minimum wage and overtime pay of one-and-one-half-times the regular rate of pay. For nonagricultural operations, it restricts the hours that children under age 16 can work and forbids the employment of children under age 18 in certain jobs deemed too unsafe. For agricultural operations, it prohibits the employment of children under age 16 during school hours and in certain jobs deemed too unsafe.

The Wage and Hour Division also enforces the labor values provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act that apply to aliens authorized to work in the U.S. under certain nonimmigrant visa programs (H-1B, H-1B1, H-1C, H2A).

Workplace Safety and Health

The Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act is administered by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Safety and health environment in most private industries are regulated by OSHA or OSHA-certified state programs, which also cover public sector employers. Employers covered by the OSH Act must meet the conditions with the policy and the safety and health values promulgated by OSHA. Employers also have a general duty under the OSH Act to provide their employees with work and a workplace free from recognized, serious hazards. OSHA enforces the Act during workplace inspections and investigations. Compliance assistance and other supportive programs are also available.

Workers' Compensation

The Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act (LHWCA), administered by ESA's Office of Workers Compensation Programs (OWCP), provides for reimbursement and medical care to certain maritime employees (including a longshore worker or other person in longshore operations, and any harbor worker, including a ship repairer, shipbuilder, and shipbroker) and to capable dependent survivors of such employees who are disabled or die due to injuries that occur on the navigable waters of the United States, or in adjoining areas customarily used in loading, unloading, repairing or construction a vessel.

The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act is a compensation program that provides a lump-sum payment of $150,000 and prospective medical benefits to staff (or certain of their survivors) of the Department of Energy and its contractors and subcontractors as an outcome of cancer caused by exposure to radiation, or certain illnesses caused by exposure to beryllium or silica incurred in the performance of duty, as well as for payment of a lump-sum of $50,000 and prospective medical reimbursement to individuals (or certain of their survivors) determined by the Department of Justice to be qualified for reimbursement as uranium workers under section 5 of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act.

The Federal Employees' Compensation Act (FECA), 5 U.S.C. 8101 et seq., establishes a complete and exclusive workers' reimbursement program which pays compensation for the disability or death of a federal employee resulting from personal injury sustained while in the performance of duty. The FECA, administered by OWCP, provides benefits for wage loss reimbursement for total or partial disability, schedule awards for permanent loss or loss of use of particular members of the body, associated medical costs, and professional treatment.

The Black Lung Benefits Act provides monthly cash expenditure and medical payback to coal miners totally disabled from pneumoconiosis ("black lung disease") arising from their employment in the nation's coal mines. The law also provides monthly benefits to a deceased miner's survivors if the miner's death was due to black lung disease.

Employee Benefit Security

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) regulates employers who offer pension or welfare advantage plans for their employees. Title I of ERISA is administered by the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) (previously the Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration) and imposes a broad range of fiduciary, disclosure and reporting necessities on fiduciaries of pension and welfare benefit plans and on others having dealings with these plans. These requirements anticipate many similar state laws. Under Title IV, certain employers and plan administrators must finance an insurance system to guard certain kinds of retirement benefits, with premiums paid to the federal government's Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC). EBSA also administers reporting necessities for continuation of health-care necessities, required under the Comprehensive Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA) and the health care portability supplies on group plans under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

Unions and Their Members

The Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (also well-known as the Landrum-Griffin Act) deal with the affiliation between a union and its members. It protects union funds and promotes union democracy by requiring labor organizations to file annual financial reports, by requiring union officials, employers, and labor consultants to file reports concerning certain labor relations practices, and by establishing principles for the election of union officers. The act is administered by the Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS), which is division of ESA.

Employee Protection

Most labor and public safety laws and many ecological laws mandate whistleblower protections for employees who complain about violations of the law by their employers. Remedies can include job restoration and payment of back wages. OSHA enforces the whistleblower protections in most laws.

Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act

Certain persons who serve in the armed forces have a right to reemployment with the employer they were with when they entered service. This includes those called up from the treasury or National Guard. These rights are administered by the Veterans' Employment and Training Service (VETS).

Employee Polygraph Protection Act

This law bars most employers from using lie detectors on employees, but allows polygraph tests only in limited conditions. It is administered by the Wage and Hour Division.

Garnishment of Wages

Garnishment of employee wages by employers is regulated under the Consumer Credit Protection Act which is administered by the Wage and Hour Division.

The Family and Medical Leave Act

Administered by the Wage and Hour Division, the law requires employers of 50 or more employees to give up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave to entitled employees for the birth or adoption of a child or for the serious illness of the employee or a spouse, child or parent. Veterans' Preference

Veterans and other entitled persons have special employment rights with the federal government. They are provided preference in primary hiring and protection in reductions in force. Claims of disobedience of these rights are investigated by the Veterans' Employment and Training Service (VETS).

Government Contracts, Grants, or Financial Aid

Recipients of government contracts, grants or economic aid are subject to wage, hour, benefits, and safety and health standards under:

• The Davis-Bacon Act, which requires payment of existing wages and benefits to employees of contractors engaged in federal government construction projects;
• The McNamara-O'Hara Service Contract Act, which sets wage rates and other labor principles for employees of contractors furnishing services to the federal government
• The Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act, which requires imbursement of least wages and other labor principles by contractors providing materials and supplies to the federal government.

Administration and enforcement of these laws are by the Wage and Hour Division. ESA's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) administers and enforces three federal contract-based civil rights laws that need most federal contractors and subcontractors, as well as federally assisted construction contractors, to provide equal employment opportunity. The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management's (OASAM) Civil Rights Center administers and enforces numerous federal assistance based civil rights laws requiring recipients of federal financial help from Department of Labor to provide equal opportunity.

Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Workers

The Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act control the hiring and employment activities of agricultural employers, farm labor contractors, and associations using migrant and seasonal agricultural workers. The Act prescribes wage protections, housing and transportation safety standards, farm labor contractor registration requirements, and disclosure requirements. The Wage and Hour Division administers this law.

The Fair Labor Standards Act exempts agricultural workers from overtime premium pay, but requires the payment of the minimum wage to workers employed on larger farms (farms employing more than approximately seven full-time workers. The Act has special child-labor regulations that apply to agricultural employment; children under 16 are prohibited to work during school hours and in certain jobs deemed too risky. Children employed on their families' farms are excused from these regulations. The Wage and Hour Division administers this law. OSHA also has special safety and health standards that may apply to agricultural operations.

The Immigration and Nationality Act requires employers who want to use foreign short-term workers on H-2A visas to get a labor certificate from the Employment and Training Administration certifying that there are not enough, able, willing and qualified U.S. workers available to do the work. The labor standards protections of the H-2A program are enforced by ESA's Wage and Hour Division.

Mine Safety and Health

The Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 covers all people who work on mine property. The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) administers this Act. The Mine Act holds mine operators answerable for the safety and health of miners; provides for the setting of compulsory safety and health standards, mandates miners' training requirements; prescribes penalties for violations; and enables inspectors to close risky mines. The safety and health standards address numerous hazards including roof falls, flammable and explosive gases, fire, electricity, equipment rollovers and maintenance, airborne contaminants, noise, and dust. MSHA enforces safety and health necessities at more than 13,000 mines, investigates mine accidents, and offers mine operators training, technical and compliance assistance.

Construction

Several agencies administer programs related exclusively to the construction industry. OSHA has special occupational safety and health standards for construction; ESA's Wage and Hour Division, under Davis-Bacon and related acts, requires payment of existing wages and benefits; ESA's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs enforces Executive Order 11246, which requires federal construction contractors and subcontractors, as well as federally assisted construction contractors, to give equal employment opportunity; the anti-kickback section of the Copeland Act precludes a federal contractor from inducing any employee to sacrifice any part of the reimbursement required.

Transportation

Most laws with labor provisions regulating the transportation industry are administered by agencies outside the Department of Labor. However, Longshoring and maritime industry safety and health standards are issued and enforced by OSHA. The Longshoring and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act, administered by ESA, requires employers to assure that workers' reimbursement is funded and available to entitled employees. In addition, the rights of employees in the mass transfer industry are protected when federal funds are used to acquire, improve, or operate a transit system. Under the Federal Transit law, the Department of Labor is liable for approving employee security measures before the department of Transportation can release finances to grantees.

Plant Closings and Layoffs

Such occurrences may be subject to the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN). WARN offers recruits early warning of impending layoffs or plant closings. The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) provides information to the public on WARN, though neither ETA nor the Department of Labor has administrative responsibility for the statute, which is enforced through private action in the federal courts.

Advisories

For more facts and guidance on laws and regulations covered in this fact sheet, call the suitable Department of Labor agency listed in your phone book under U.S. Government.

Other federal agencies besides the Department of Labor enforce laws and regulations that affect employers. Statutes that ensure non-discrimination in employment are generally enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The Taft-Hartley Act regulates a wide range of employer-employee conduct and is administered by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). For more information on these laws, consult these agencies; they are listed in your phone book under U.S. Government.