Punching In: DOL Investigator Hiring Push No Match for Attrition

Monday morning musings for workplace watchers.

Net Zero WHD Hiring|Heat Rule Redux

Rebecca Rainey: A Biden administration hiring initiative aimed at bolstering the ranks of investigators at the US Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division appears to have been fruitless.

A year and a half into the hiring spree, the agency’s staffing level is almost exactly the same.

At the end of June, the wage division had 758 investigators on board, according to data provided by the DOL. That’s a net gain of one investigator since the agency announced the initiatve in January 2022.

Agency leaders said they had filled 100 new positions in June 2022, but investigator attrition has nearly canceled out those additions.

Current and former agency officials blame overwhelming case loads and mediocre pay compared to other agencies as reasons wage and hour investigators keep leaving.

WHD staff have the daunting task of enforcing more than a dozen laws at over 9.8 million workplaces across the US. The Biden administration has also expanded the sub-agency’s enforcement responsibilities, initiating a special child labor exploitation task force earlier this year and fueling investments in new infrastructure projects that may demand inspection activity.

The DOL tried to resolve the WHD’s morale and hiring woes by bringing on additional leadership staff in its local offices. But the effort backfired, frustrating investigators who said they instead needed more rank and file staffers, not managers.

Ultimately, the Biden administration says it can’t take meaningful steps to rebuild its investigative force without more money from Congress—a tall, if not impossible, order.

“DOL has called on Congress for additional funding for DOL agencies to address important issues and to consider additional protections for workers in all industries including increased penalties and protections against retaliation,” a DOL spokesperson said in a statement.

But as negotiations currently stand in Congress, WHD is likely to only get a fraction of the $55 million the agency says it needs to hire 389 new investigative staff in fiscal year 2024.

Senate appropriators recently signed off on a $4.5 million increase for the WHD. Although that funding level also must be approved by the Republican-controlled House, it’s likely close to what the final spending package will include.

Read More:
Senate Panel Cuts DOL Funding Slightly in Contrast to House Bill
DOL Is Hiring Managers as Need for Wage Investigators Escalates
Wage and Hour Staff Crunch May Hinder DOL Child Labor Crackdown

At the end of June, the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division had 758 investigators on board, a net gain of one since the agency’s hiring push began in January 2022.

Al Drago/Bloomberg

Bruce Rolfsen: Labor advocates again are pushing for federal action to protect workers from heat stress as temperatures in Washington, D.C., and other parts of the country near or breach 100 degrees.

Democrats last week introduced the Asunción Valdivia Heat Illness, Injury, and Fatality Prevention Act (H.R. 4897)—marking the third consecutive congressional session they’ve attempted to move a heat protection bill.

The 2019 and 2021 versions each had more than 100 co-sponsors, all Democrats, but neither made it past the committee stage.

No hearing dates have been set for the current bill.

The measure, introduced by Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.), calls for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to issue an interim final heat stress rule, leaving it to the agency to set trigger temperatures and other specific requirements for employers.

OSHA has already started a rulemaking (RIN:1218-AD39), but nearly two years in, there’s still no proposal for anyone to analyze.

The agency is preparing to hold a small business impact review of the rule’s possible provisions, but hasn’t set dates to hear from employers.

In May, an advisory committee of labor and employer representatives said OSHA should require employers to have a written exposure control plan; train workers to mitigate it; monitor temperatures; allow workers to acclimatize; and provide workers cool water, rest breaks, protective clothing, and places to get shade.

But a big sticking point the OSHA advisers didn’t address: How hot does it have to get before an employer needs to take immediate precautions?

California, Washington, and Oregon have set 80 degrees as the threshold for outdoor workers.

Debates in Washington about how employers should handle hot weather have been raging for decades, suggesting that current efforts face a tough road ahead.

A bill introduced in 1993 that would have required farm employers prevent workers from suffering heat stress didn’t advance past a labor subcommittee hearing.

The worker advocacy group Public Citizen also has petitioned OSHA several times since 2011 to come up with a heat rule.

Short of that rule coming to pass, the Biden administration has launched an effort to increase work-site inspections for heat hazards on days when temperatures go above 80 degrees. OSHA has conducted more than 2,360 inspections since beginning the heat national enforcement program in April 2022.

We’re punching out. Daily Labor Report subscribers, please check in for updates during the week, and feel free to reach out to us.