Guide Note: The Department of Labor (DOL) is a Cabinet level position that is responsible for: gathering of economic statistics, wage & hour standards, occupational safety, unemployment insurance, re-employment services and the management of 180 different labor laws. DOL was established in 1913 and is one of fifteen U.S. Cabinet departments. It first emerged in 1884 as the Bureau of Labor under President Chester A. Arthur. It saw it's next major transformation on February 14, 1903 under the Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt as the Department of Commerce and Labor. On March 4, 1913, the last day of President William H. Taft's presidency, he signed legislation that created the Department of Labor as a Cabinet position.
Fast Facts:
[edit] Formation
- Became a Cabinet level position March 4, 1913
- President William H. Taft signed legislation
- President Woodrow Wilson became first President to appoint a Secretary of Labor
- First Secretary of Labor William B. Wilson
[edit] General Information
- 2001-present: Elaine Chao
- 180 Federal laws under DOL enforcement
- Proposed 2009 budget 54,213 (million)
- Employees 17,347 (2004)
[edit] Major Labor Laws Enacted
- 1916: Office of Workers Compensation Program (OWCP)
- 1938: Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)
- 1959: Labor-Management Reporting & Disclosure Act
- 1967: Age Discrimination in Employment Act
- 1971: Occupational Safety & Health Act (OSHA)
- 1974: Veterans Reemployment Rights Act
- 1974: Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)
- 1977: Federal Mine Safety & Health Act
- 1981: Uniformed Services Employment & Reemployment Act
- 1988: Employee Polygraph Protection Act
- 1990: American's with Disabilities Act
- 1939: TheFamily & Medical Leave Act
[edit] Some Major Branches of the DOL
- OSHA since 1971: OSHA cut workplace fatalities by 60% fatalities, occupational illness/injuries by 40%
- Veteran's Employment & Training Service meets the needs of individuals separating from the military
- Bureau of Labor Statistics keeps track of labor statistics
- Women's Bureau instrumental in including women under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 and the passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993
- Office of Job Corps inacted in 1964 to help young adults with education and training for better jobs
- Employee Benefits Security Administration's function is to watch over and protect the employee benefits, health plans and pensions of 150 million
- Office of Disability Employment Policy is a sub-cabinet office established in 2001 whose vision is to see "a world in which people with disabilities have unlimited employment opportunities"
