Today, Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis hosted her third live Web chat during her tenure with the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). During the session, Solis answered questions on the department’s proposed budget for the 2011 fiscal year. She touched briefly on the agency’s plans with the requested $116.5 billion, a decrease from last year’s $193.6 billion. This decrease can be largely attributed to a decline in unemployment insurance benefit payments.
Solis noted that the DOL’s priorities for the coming year would focus on protecting workers’ rights, expanding the agency’s role in enforcing those rights, ensuring that workers are aware of and have equal access to DOL programs, and maintaining department transparency with the public. The DOL hopes to return worker protection agencies to staffing levels that were present in 2001. For that purpose, $1.7 billion — a $69 million increase — will be allocated to these programs, allowing for an additional 177 inspectors, investigators, and other staff to be hired.
Specifically, 90 of these enforcement personnel and $244 million will serve the Wage and Hour Division (WHD), providing better protection to workers with an emphasis on curbing misclassification. Solis expects these resources to allow the WHD to better address its complaint-handling procedures and integrate new tools and technologies into the complaint process. The Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) will also see an increase of enforcement personnel, adding 60 enforcement officers in the 2011 fiscal year. These workers, joining the 192 personnel expected to be added by the end of the 2010 fiscal year, will assist in conducting an expected 42,000 federal inspections.
Solis also mentioned innovative plans with the 2011 budget, including a proposed allocation of $50 million to provide grants to assist states with the planning and establishment of paid leave programs. An additional $11.8 million is proposed for employee training and development programs. Overall, the DOL expects to hire a total of 358 new employees in the 2011 fiscal year.
For more information on the proposed budget, visit www.dol.gov/budget.
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