DEPARTMENT OF LABOR (DOL)

Statement of Regulatory and Deregulatory

Priorities

Executive Summary

The Department of Labor's (DOL) mission is to protect workers by improving working conditions, advancing opportunities for employment, protecting retirement and health care benefits, helping employers find workers, and strengthening collective bargaining. Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis' vision is that the work of the Labor Department will ensure there are good jobs for everyone.

To achieve this broad vision, the Secretary has established a series of 12 specific strategic outcomes, which span across all of the Department's agencies. These outcomes are:

  • Increasing workers' incomes and narrowing wage and income inequality.

  • Securing safe and healthy workplaces, wages and overtime, particularly in high-risk industries.

  • Assuring skills and knowledge that prepare workers to succeed in a knowledge-based economy, including in high-growth and emerging industry sectors like "green" jobs.

  • Breaking down barriers to fair and diverse work places so that every worker's contribution is respected.

  • Improving health benefits and retirement security for all workers.

  • Providing work place flexibility for family and personal care-giving.

  • Facilitating return to work for workers experiencing work place injuries or illnesses who are able to work and sufficient income and medical care for those who are unable to work.

  • Income support when work is impossible or unavailable.

  • Helping workers who are in low-wage jobs or out of the labor market find a path into middle class jobs.

  • Ensuring workers have a voice in the work place.

  • Assuring that global markets are governed by fair market rules that protect vulnerable people, including women and children, and provide workers a fair share of their productivity and voice in their work lives.

  • Helping middle-class families remain in the middle class.

    Critical to this vision is ensuring these outcomes achieve good jobs for everyone. This includes vulnerable workers, workers in traditionally less safe industry sectors, farmworkers, health care workers and seniors, and those facing barriers to good employment.

    The Secretary has directed each agency to ensure that all priority regulatory projects support achievement of one or more of the strategic outcomes that support the good jobs for everyone vision. The DOL Fall 2009 Regulatory Plan reflects this direction.

    Openness and Transparency

    Using regulatory changes to produce greater openness and transparency is an integral part of a Department-wide compliance strategy. These efforts will not only enhance DOL agencies' enforcement tool set, but will encourage greater levels of compliance by the regulated community and enhance awareness among workers of their rights and benefits.

    The Department's commitment to achieving greater openness and transparency is exemplified in its Regulatory Plan and Agenda. Several proposals from the Employee Benefits Security Administration expand disclosure requirements, substantially enhancing the availability of information to pension plan participants and beneficiaries and employers, and strengthening the retirement security of America's workers. These rulemakings are:

  • Fiduciary Requirements for Disclosure in Participant-Directed Individual Account Plans, which would increase transparency between individual account pension plans and their participants and beneficiaries by ensuring that participants and beneficiaries are provided the information they need, including information about fees and expenses, to make informed investment decisions.

  • Amendment of Standards Applicable to General Statutory Exemption for Services, which would require service providers to disclose to plan fiduciaries services, fees, compensation and conflicts of interest information.

  • Annual Funding Notice for Defined Benefit Plans, which would require defined benefit plan administrators to provide all participants, beneficiaries and other parties with detailed information regarding their plan's funding status.

  • Periodic Pension Benefits Statements, which would require pension plans to provide participants and certain beneficiaries with periodic benefit statements.

  • Multiemployer Plan Information Made Available on Request, which would require pension plan administrators to provide copies of financial and actuarial reports to participants and beneficiaries, unions and contributing employers on request.

    Several other Labor Department agencies will also be proposing regulatory projects that will foster greater openness and transparency. These include:

  • The Mine Safety and Health Administration's proposed regulation on Notification of Legal Identity, which aims to require mine operators to provide increased identification information, would allow the agency to better target the most egregious and persistent violators and deter future violations.

  • The Office of Labor-Management Standards' proposed regulations on Notification of Employee Rights Under Federal Labor Laws, which would implement Executive Order 13496 and require all Government contracting agencies to include a contract clause requiring contractors to inform workers of their rights under Federal labor laws.

  • The Wage and Hour Division's rulemaking, Records to be Kept by Employers Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, which would update decades old recordkeeping regulations in order to enhance the transparency and disclosure to workers as to how their wages are computed and to allow for new workplace practices such as telework and flexiplace arrangements.

  • The Occupational Safety and Health Administration's modification of its Hazard Communication Standard, which would adopt standardized labeling requirements and order of information for safety data sheets.

  • The Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Occupational Injury and Illness Recording and Reporting Requirements rule, which would propose the collection of additional data to help employers and workers track injuries at individual workplaces, improve the Nation's occupational injury and illness information data, and assist the agency in its enforcement of the safety and health workplace requirements.

    The Department's Regulatory Priorities

    The Department of Labor's (DOL) 2009 Regulatory Plan highlights the most noteworthy and significant regulatory projects that will be undertaken by its regulatory agencies: the Employment Standards Administration (ESA), Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), and Employment and Training Administration (ETA). The initiatives and priorities in the regulatory plan represent those that are essential to the fulfillment of the Secretary's vision for the Department and America's workforce.

    Employment and Training Administration

    ETA is charged with assuring our Nation's workers have the skills and knowledge that will prepare them to succeed in a knowledge-based economy, including high-growth and emerging industry sectors such as "green jobs." For those workers who are in low-wage jobs or out of the labor market, ETA programs will help them find a path to self-sufficiency and good, middle class jobs. And for those who are unable to work, or for whom work is unavailable, ETA programs provide income support and a path to self-sufficiency. ETA is playing a pivotal role in the implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) to jumpstart our economy, create or save millions of jobs, and make a down payment on addressing long-neglected challenges so our country can thrive. Through these efforts and others, ETA is transforming the way it provides services to all workers.

    ETA is highlighting four regulatory priorities that reflect the Secretary's vision to advance good jobs for everyone with measurable and substantial outcomes. These are:

  • The Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) for Workers Program Regulations propose to implement changes to the TAA program that arose when the program was re-authorized and expanded in the Recovery Act. The Recovery Act amended the certification criteria, expanded the types of workers who may be certified, and expanded the available program benefits. The TAA regulations will help provide opportunities for participants to acquire skills and knowledge needed to become, or remain, employable in the middle-class jobs market. The TAA regulations will also help provide guidance on supplying participants with income support for times when work is impossible or unavailable. The overarching outcomes for the completion of the TAA regulations are to help middle-class families remain middle class and help workers who are out of the labor market find a path into the middle class.

  • The Trade Adjustment Assistance: Merit Staffing of State Administration and Allocation of Training Funds to States Regulation proposes that personnel carrying out the worker adjustment assistance provisions of the TAA program must be State employees covered by the merit system of personnel administration and addresses how the Department distributes TAA training funds to the States. It will be finalized after the public comments on the regulation have been analyzed and considered. The Allocation of Training Funds portion of this regulation explains, for the first time, the new formula that the Department uses to allocate training funds to the States.

  • The Temporary Agricultural Employment of H-2A Aliens in the United States regulatory revisions set forth the requirements for using temporary foreign agricultural workers and establish wages and working conditions to cover both U.S. and foreign agricultural workers. The H-2A program assists in achieving the Secretary's goal to increase workers' incomes and narrow wage and income inequality by protecting the wages and working conditions of both American workers and foreign nationals working in the United States.

  • The YouthBuild Program regulation proposes to implement the YouthBuild Transfer Act of 2006, which transferred the YouthBuild program from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to DOL, and amended certain program features to emphasize skill training and connections to the public workforce system. The YouthBuild regulations will help achieve the Secretary's goals by assuring participants gain the skills and knowledge that will prepare them to succeed in a knowledge-based economy, including in high-growth and emerging industry sectors like "green jobs."

    In addition, the proposed amendments to regulations for equal employment opportunity (EEO) in apprenticeship and training are a critical second phase of regulatory updates to modernize the National Apprenticeship System. The first phase was completed in October 2008 with the publication of a final rule updating regulations for Apprenticeship Programs and Labor Standards for Registration. The existing companion EEO regulations for apprenticeship were promulgated over 30 years ago. Proposed amendments to these regulations will help achieve the Secretary's goal of a fair and diverse workplace free of discrimination and harassment by reflecting current EEO law.

    Finally, the Department proposes amendments to the temporary non-agricultural foreign worker (H-2B Worker) regulations. As part of its statutory responsibility as an advisor to the Department of Homeland Security, the Department certifies that there is not sufficient U.S. worker(s) able, available, willing and qualified at the time of an application for a visa, and that the employment of the alien will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of similarly employed U.S. workers. The Department currently administers such certification through an attestation-based program. The regulatory review of the H-2B program will assist in achieving the Secretary's goal to increase workers' incomes and narrow wage and income inequality by protecting the wages and working conditions of both American workers and foreign nationals working in the United States.

    Employee Benefits Security Administration

    The Employee Benefits Security Administration is responsible for administering and enforcing the fiduciary, reporting and disclosure, and health coverage provisions of Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). This includes recent amendments and additions to ERISA enacted in the Pension Protection Act of 2006, as well as new COBRA Continuation Coverage Provisions under the Recovery Act. EBSA's regulatory plan initiatives are intended to improve health benefits and retirement security for workers in every type of job at every income level.

    Health Benefits for Workers

    EBSA will issue guidance implementing the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA) amendments to ERISA. Generally, GINA prohibits group health plans from discriminating in health coverage based on genetic information and from collecting genetic information. This rulemaking helps ensure that workers will have access to high quality health coverage, free from discrimination based on a genetic predisposition towards a disease. This is a joint rulemaking with the Departments of Health and Human Services and the Treasury.

    EBSA also will be providing guidance regarding the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (MHPAEA) amendments to ERISA. MHPAEA creates parity for mental health and substance use disorder benefits under group health plans by mandating that any financial requirements and treatment limitations applicable to mental health and substance abuse disorder benefits to be no more restrictive than predominant requirements or limitations applied to substantially all medical and surgical benefits covered by a plan. EBSA's MHPAEA guidance will help ensure the desired outcome of affording workers access to reliable and high quality health benefits.

    EBSA also will issue guidance clarifying the circumstances under which health care arrangements established or maintained by state or local governments for the benefit of non-governmental employees do not constitute an employee welfare benefit plan for purposes of ERISA. Such clarification is intended to remove perceived impediments to state and local government efforts to improve access to and opportunities for quality and affordable health care coverage for vulnerable, uninsured populations. The clarifications provided by this regulation also will reduce uncertainty and, therefore, potential regulatory and litigation costs for both plan sponsors and state and local governments concerning the scope of ERISA regulation.

    Retirement Security for Workers

    EBSA will propose amendments to its regulations to clarify the circumstances under which a person will be considered a fiduciary when providing investment advice to employee benefit plans and their participants and beneficiaries of such plans. EBSA also will explore steps it can take by regulation, or otherwise, to encourage the offering of lifetime annuities or similar lifetime benefits distribution options for participants and beneficiaries of defined contribution plans. These initiatives are intended to assure retirement security for workers in all jobs regardless of income level by ensuring that financial advisers and similar persons are required to meet ERISA's strict standards of fiduciary responsibility and helping to ensure that participants and beneficiaries have the benefit of their plan savings throughout retirement.

    Occupational Safety and Health Administration

    The Secretary's vision for workers requires securing a safe and healthy workplace. OSHA's regulatory program is designed to help workers and employers identify hazards in the workplace, prevent the occurrence of injuries and adverse health effects, and communicate with the regulated community regarding hazards and how to effectively control them. Longstanding health hazards such as silica and beryllium and emerging hazards such as food flavorings containing diacetyl and airborne infectious diseases place American workers at risk of serious disease and death and are initiatives on OSHA's regulatory agenda. OSHA's regulatory program demonstrates a renewed commitment to worker health by addressing health hazards and the prevention of construction injuries and fatalities.

    First, OSHA is proposing to address worker exposures to crystalline silica through the promulgation and enforcement of a comprehensive health standard. Exposure to silica causes silicosis, a debilitating respiratory disease, and may cause cancer, other chronic respiratory diseases, and renal and autoimmune disease as well. Over 2 million workers are exposed to crystalline silica in general industry, construction, and maritime industries and workers are often exposed to levels that exceed current OSHA permissible limits, which is frequent in the construction industry where workers are exposed at levels that exceed current limits by several fold. It has been estimated that between 3,500 and 7,000 new cases of silicosis arise each year in the U.S., and that 1,746 workers died of silicosis between 1996 and 2005.

    Reducing these hazardous exposures through promulgation and enforcement of a comprehensive health standard supports both the Secretary's vision and will contribute to OSHA's goal of reducing occupational fatalities and illnesses. As a part of the Secretary's strategy for securing safe and healthy workplaces, the Mine Safety and Health Administration will also be undertaking regulatory action related to silica utilizing information provided by OSHA.

    OSHA's second health initiative would revise its Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) to make it consistent with a globally harmonized approach to hazard communication. The HCS covers over 945,000 hazardous chemical products in seven million American workplaces and gives workers the "right to know" about chemical hazards they are exposed to. OSHA and other Federal agencies have participated in long-term international negotiations to develop the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS). Revising the HCS to be consistent with the GHS is expected to significantly improve the communication of hazards to workers in American workplaces, reducing exposures to hazardous chemicals, and reducing occupational illnesses and fatalities.

    Workers in construction suffer the most fatalities of any industry. In 2008, OSHA estimated that crane-related accidents in construction cause over 80 fatalities a year. Therefore, OSHA's major construction initiative is an update of the 1971 Cranes and Derricks Standards. Completion of this standard will contribute to a reduction in occupational injuries and fatalities, which helps achieve the Secretary's outcome goal of securing safe and healthy workplaces in high-risk industries. The Agency is currently evaluating the public comments and planning to issue a final rule in July 2010.

    Mine Safety and Health Administration

    MSHA's regulatory projects support the Secretary's vision by protecting the health and safety of the Nation's miners. Despite the agency's past efforts, miners face safety and health hazards daily at levels unknown in most other occupations. While the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977 (Mine Act) places primary responsibility for preventing unsafe and unhealthful working conditions in mines on the operators, the collective commitment of miners, mine operators, and government is needed to ensure safe workplaces.

    The agency's proposed regulatory actions exemplify a commitment to protecting the most vulnerable populations while assuring broad-based compliance. Health hazards are pervasive in both coal and metal/nonmetal mines (including surface and underground mines) and large and small mines.

    Recent data from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health indicate increased prevalence of coal workers pneumoconiosis (CWP) "clusters" in several geographical areas, particularly in the Southern Appalachian Region. MSHA plans to publish a notice of proposed rulemaking to address continued risk to coal miners from exposure to respirable coal mine dust.

    On January 16, 2009, MSHA and NIOSH published a proposed rule that would revise requirements for the approval of coal mine personal dust sampling devices. The proposed rule would also establish performance-based and other requirements for approval of the continuous personal dust monitor (CPDM) and revise requirements for the existing sampler. As a part of the agency's efforts in this area, MSHA plans to publish a Request for Information on the use of the CPDM to measure a miner's exposure to respirable coal mine dust. The CPDM represents advanced technology and the RFI will solicit information from the public to help the Agency determine how to best use the technology to assess coal miners' dust exposures. MSHA is also considering a rulemaking to address ways in which mine operators can improve protections in their dust control plans, emphasizing that the burden of compliance is on the mine operator, rather than relying exclusively on enforcement interventions.

    These regulatory actions are a part of MSHA's Comprehensive Black Lung Reduction Strategy for reducing miners' exposure to respirable dust. This strategy includes enhanced enforcement, education and training, and health outreach and collaboration.

    As a part of the Secretary's strategy for securing safe and healthy workplaces, both MSHA and OSHA will be undertaking regulatory action related to silica. Overexposure to crystalline silica can result in some miners developing silicosis, an irreversible but preventable lung disease which ultimately may be fatal. Both the coal mine and metal/nonmetal formulas are designed to limit exposures to 0.1 mg/m3 (100 µg) of silica. MSHA plans to follow the recommendation of the Secretary of Labor's Advisory Committee on the Elimination of Pneumoconiosis Among Coal Mine Workers, NIOSH, and other industry groups by publishing a proposed rule to address the exposure limit for respirable crystalline silica. To assure consistency within the Department, MSHA intends to use OSHA's work on the health effects of occupational exposure to silica and OSHA's risk assessment, adapting it as necessary for the mining industry.

    MSHA is placing an emphasis on routinely evaluating the success of existing enforcement and regulatory strategies and plans to issue an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) on dams in metal and nonmetal mines. Mining operations regularly find it necessary to construct dams to dispose of large volumes of mine waste from processing operations, or to provide water supply, sediment control, or water treatment. The failure of these structures can have a devastating effect on both the mine and nearby communities. MSHA evaluated its existing requirements for metal and nonmetal dams and has determined that the current standards do not provide sufficient guidance to determine what is needed to effectively design and construct dams with high or significant hazard potential. The ANPRM will solicit information on proper design, construction and other safety issues for impoundments at metal and nonmetal mines whose failure could cause loss of life or significant property damage.

    Employment Standards Administration

    ESA's Wage and Hour Division enforces several statutes that establish minimum labor standards and protect the Nation's workers, including the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the Service Contract Act, the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts, the Employee Polygraph Protection Act, and certain provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act. The regulatory initiatives required to implement these statutory workplace protections represent an important aspect of the Division's work and affect over 130 million workers across all sectors of the economy.

    Updating the child labor regulations issued under the FLSA will help meet the challenge of ensuring good jobs for the Nation's working youth, by balancing their educational needs with job-related experiences that are safe, healthy, and fair. This will enhance young workers' opportunities to gain the skills to find and hold good jobs with the potential to increase their earnings over time.

    The Wage and Hour Division will review the implementation of the new military family leave amendments to the Family and Medical Leave Act that were included in the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2008, as well as other provisions of the FMLA regulations that were revised and implemented in January 2009. This regulatory initiative assists in achieving the Secretary's goal of workplace flexibility for family and personal care-giving and, particularly through the job protection and the maintenance of health benefits provisions, helps middle-class families remain in the middle class.

    The Wage and Hour Division also intends to initiate rulemaking to update the recordkeeping regulation issued under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Consistent with the Secretary's strategic vision, this proposal will foster more openness and transparency by demonstrating employers' compliance with minimum wage and overtime requirements to workers. In turn, this will better ensure compliance by regulated entities and assist the Department with its enforcement efforts.

    ESA's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) is charged with assuring that the door to opportunity is open to every American regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, veteran status, or disability. OFCCP enforces Executive Order 11246, as amended, and selected provisions of the Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 (VEVRAA), and Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended (Section 503). Regulations issued under the Executive Order and the two acts govern the nondiscrimination and affirmative action obligations for Federal contractors and subcontractors. OFCCP's enforcement of these statutory obligations contributes to achieving several of the Secretary's desired outcomes, including increasing workers' incomes and narrowing wage and income inequality, breaking down barriers to fair and diverse work places so that every worker's contribution is respected and helping workers who are in low-wage jobs or out of the labor market find a path into middle-class jobs.

    OFCCP is highlighting three regulatory initiatives that reflect the Secretary's vision of good jobs for everyone. The Evaluation of Recruitment and Placement Results under Section 503 ANPRM will invite the public to provide input on how the Department can strengthen affirmative action requirements by requiring Federal contractors and subcontractors to conduct more substantive analyses and monitoring of their recruitment and placement efforts targeted to individuals with disabilities.

    The Evaluation of Recruitment and Placement Results under VEVRRA NPRM will propose to revise provisions in the regulations to strengthen compliance with affirmative action requirements, including the establishment of outreach, recruitment, and placement goals for the employment and advancement of covered veterans. This effort will help support the creation of good jobs for veterans, especially those returning from recent service in Iraq and Afghanistan. Through this initiative, OFCCP will help servicemen and women successfully transition into civilian life.

    The Construction Contractor Affirmative Action Requirements proposed rule would revise the regulations implementing the affirmative action requirements of Executive Order 11246 that are applicable to federal and federally-assisted construction contractors. The initiative would update regulatory provisions that set forth the actions construction contractors are required to take to implement their affirmative action obligations.

    ESA's Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS) administers and enforces most provisions of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (LMRDA). The LMRDA requires unions, employers, labor-relations consultants, and others to file financial disclosure reports, which are publicly available. The LMRDA includes provisions protecting union member rights to participate in their union's governance, to run for office and fully exercise their union citizenship, as well as procedural safeguards to ensure free and fair union elections.

    OLMS intends to publish a Request for Information regarding the use of Internet voting in union officer elections conducted under the LMRDA to better inform the agency in administering its obligation under the union democracy provisions of the Act to ensure that the voting right of each union member is protected. OLMS also will propose a regulatory initiative to better implement the public disclosure objectives of the LMRDA regarding employer-consultant agreements to persuade employees concerning their rights to organize and bargain collectively. Under LMRDA section 203 an employer must report any agreement or arrangement with a third party consultant to persuade employees as to their collective bargaining rights or to obtain certain information concerning the activities of employees or a labor organization in connection with a labor dispute involving the employer. The consultant, also, is required to report concerning such an agreement or arrangement with an employer. An exemption to these reporting requirements is set forth in LMRDA section 203(c), which provides, in part, that employers and consultants are not required to file a report by reason of the consultant's giving or agreeing to give "advice" to the employer. The Department believes that current policy concerning the scope of the "advice exemption" is over-broad and that a narrower construction would better allow for the employer and consultant reporting intended by the LMRDA. Regulatory action is needed to provide workers with information critical to their effective participation in the workplace. When workers or union members have more information about what arrangements have been made by their employer to persuade them whether or not to join a union, this information helps them make more informed choices and acts to level the labor-management relations playing field. Both initiatives support the Secretary's vision of good jobs for everyone by advancing the goal to ensure that workers and union members have a voice in the workplace.

    ESA's Office of Workers' Compensation Programs (OWCP) administers four major disability compensation programs that provide wage replacement benefits, medical treatment, vocational rehabilitation and other benefits (such as survivors benefits) to certain workers who experience work-related injury or occupational disease. The Federal Employees' Compensation Act (FECA) provides workers' compensation benefits to federal workers for employment related injuries and occupational diseases as well as survivor benefits for a covered employee's employment-related death. The Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act (LHWCA) provides vocational rehabilitation, medical benefits, and financial compensation to covered maritime workers who incurred occupational injuries or illnesses as a result of exposure to their employment. The LHWCA provides similar coverage for employees covered by the Defense Base Act (DBA).

    These programs serve to advance the Secretary's vision of good jobs for everyone by securing the desired outcomes of facilitating return to work for workers experiencing workplace injuries or illnesses who are able to work and sufficient income and medical care for those who are unable to work; providing income support when work is impossible or unavailable; and providing compensation to eligible survivors after the death of a covered worker, thereby helping middle class families remain in the middle class.

    OWCP plans to update its regulations governing administration of claims under the FECA. The regulations will be revised to reflect changes already in place since the regulations were comprehensively updated ten years ago and to incorporate new procedures that will enhance OWCP's ability to administer FECA. Among other benefits, changes to the regulations will facilitate the return to work of injured workers who are able to work, will enhance OWCP's ability to efficiently provide sufficient income and medical care for those who are unable to work, and will foster greater openness and transparency by better explaining the increased automation of the medical billing process.

    In addition, OWCP will modernize the provision of compensation for employees situated overseas who are neither citizens nor residents of the United States to reflect current realities in regard to such employees. The regulations will also be revised to reflect a recent statutory change to the FECA moving the three-day waiting period before qualifying for wage-loss compensation for employees of the Postal Service. These revisions will increase the transparency of program operations and improve program implementation with efficiency providing better service in a more timely fashion.

    OWCP plans to issue regulations under the LHWCA to clarify the application of the waiver provisions of the DBA, by explaining the DOL procedures for reviewing and granting a waiver. These rules will facilitate return to work for employees experiencing workplace injuries or illnesses who are able to work and sufficient income and medical care for those who are unable to work.