United States Department of Labor

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United States
Department of Labor
US-DeptOfLabor-Seal.svg
Seal of the U.S. Department of Labor
Flag of the United States Department of Labor.png
Flag of the U.S. Department of Labor
Frances Perkins Building.JPG
The Frances Perkins Building, which serves as the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Labor.
Agency overview
Formed March 4, 1913 (1913-03-04) (100 years ago)[1]
Headquarters Frances Perkins Building
200 Constitution Avenue NW
Washington, D.C., U.S.
38°53′33.13″N 77°0′51.94″W / 38.8925361°N 77.0144278°W / 38.8925361; -77.0144278Coordinates: 38°53′33.13″N 77°0′51.94″W / 38.8925361°N 77.0144278°W / 38.8925361; -77.0144278
Employees 17,477 (2010)
Annual budget $10.5 billion (2009); $13.3 billion (2010)[2]
Agency executive Seth D. Harris, Secretary (acting)
Website
www.DOL.gov

The United States Department of Labor (DOL) is a cabinet-level department of the U.S. federal government responsible for occupational safety, wage and hour standards, unemployment insurance benefits, re-employment services, and some economic statistics; many U.S. states also have such departments. The department is headed by the U.S. Secretary of Labor, which was held by Hilda Solis until her resignation in January 2013. Pending Solis's replacement, Seth Harris is the acting Secretary of Labor,[3] and also serves as U.S. Deputy Secretary of Labor.

The purpose of the Department of Labor is to foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners, job seekers, and retirees of the United States; improve working conditions; advance opportunities for profitable employment; and assure work-related benefits and rights. In carrying out this mission, the Department of Labor administers and enforces more than 180 federal laws. These mandates and the regulations that implement them cover many workplace activities for about 10 million employers and 125 million workers.

The Department’s headquarters is housed in the Frances Perkins Building, named in honor of Frances Perkins, the Secretary of Labor from 1933 to 1945 and the first female cabinet secretary in U.S. history.[4]

Contents

History [edit]

The former flag of the U.S. Department of Labor, used from 1915 to 1960.

The U.S. Congress first established a Bureau of Labor in 1888 under the Department of the Interior. Later, the Bureau of Labor became an independent Department of Labor but lacked executive rank. It became a bureau again within the Department of Commerce and Labor, which was established February 15, 1903. President William Howard Taft signed the March 4, 1913 (the last day of his presidency), bill establishing the Department of Labor as a Cabinet-level Department.

President Lyndon Johnson asked Congress to consider the idea of reuniting Commerce and Labor.[citation needed] He argued that the two departments had similar goals and that they would have more efficient channels of communication in a single department. However, Congress never acted on it.

In the 1970s, following the civil rights movement, the Labor Department under Secretary George P. Shultz was instrumental in promoting racial diversity in unions.[5]

During the John F. Kennedy Administration, planning was undertaken to consolidate most of the department's offices, then scattered around more than 20 locations. Construction on the "New Labor Building" began in the mid‑1960s and finished in 1975. It was named in honor of Perkins in 1980.

During 2010 a local of the American Federation of Government Employees stated their unhappiness that a longstanding flextime program reduced under the George W. Bush administration had not been restored under the Obama administration.[6] Department officials said the program was modern and fair and that it was part of ongoing contract negotiations with the local.[6] In August 2010, the Partnership for Public Service ranked the Department of Labor 23rd out of 31 large agencies in its annual "Best Places to Work in the Federal Government" list.[7] In December 2010, then-Department of Labor Secretary Hilda Solis was named the Chair of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness,[8] of which Labor has been a member since its beginnings in 1987.

In July 2011, the Department was rocked by the resignation of Ray Jefferson, Assistant Secretary for VETS, in a contracting scandal.[9][10][11][12]

On March 4, 2013, the Department began commemorating its centennial.[13]

Agencies of the U.S. Department of Labor [edit]

Other [edit]

Related legislation [edit]

See also [edit]

Footnotes [edit]

  1. ^ "Chapter 1: Start-up of the Department and World War I, 1913-1921". History of the Department of Labor. Retrieved February 4, 2013. 
  2. ^ "FY 2010 Department of Labor Budget in Brief". U.S. Department of Labor. U.S. federal government. 2010.  Text "http://www.dol.gov/dol/budget/2010/PDF/bib.pdf" ignored (help);
  3. ^ Secunda, Paul M. (January 24, 2013). "Former Law Prof Seth Harris Appointed Acting U.S. Secretary of Labor". Workplace Prof Blog. Retrieved January 24, 2013. 
  4. ^ APWU.org
  5. ^ Frum, David (2000). How We Got Here: The '70s. New York, New York: Basic Books. p. 243. ISBN 0-465-04195-7. 
  6. ^ a b Kamen, Al (2010-04-23). "AFGE pushes for flextime at Labor Department". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2010-04-26. 
  7. ^ "Best Places to Work > Overall Index Scores". Partnership for Public Service. 2010. Retrieved 2010-09-01. 
  8. ^ [1]
  9. ^ all.gov
  10. ^ KC Star
  11. ^ wapo.com
  12. ^ Senator
  13. ^ http://www.dol.gov/100/

Bibliography [edit]

  • Lombardi, John (1942). Labor's Voice in the Cabinet: A History of the Department of Labor from Its Origins to 1921. New York: Columbia University Press. 

External links [edit]

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