DOGE Turns Its Attention to Department of Labor

The Department of Labor (DOL) is a federal agency entrusted with protecting workers, job seekers and retirees. The department’s role impacts everyone who has an employer, either currently or in the past.

The DOL was created in 1913 and is currently led by Acting Secretary Vince Micone. President Donald Trump has nominated Lori Chavez-DeRemer to the position and she is awaiting confirmation from Congress.

Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by billionaire Elon Musk — an unelected official who has not been confirmed as an appointee of Trump — have trained their sights on the Department of Labor.

DOGE (not an official government department, despite the moniker) has been firing federal employees and probing multiple federal departments and agencies in recent days. Its actions have resulted in Musk and associates accessing sensitive Treasury Department data; taking over the office of personnel management; shuttering the United States Agency for International Development (USAID); and, reportedly, looking to dismantle the Department of Education.

Musk’s staff met with DOL management on Wednesday afternoon. Around the same time, a group of union members, DOL workers and others gathered outside the Labor Department’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., to protest DOGE’s impending access to the DOL’s information systems.

Also on Wednesday, unions representing government employees and other labor groups filed a suit seeking a temporary restraining order against DOGE and the Labor Department; the groups argue that DOGE will illegally demand access to information systems and retaliate against employees who don’t comply, and that the DOL will let it happen. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court for D.C., says the DOL’s labor systems include highly sensitive data and personal information about workers.

The suit also says that, in the process, DOGE will get access to information related to investigations of Musk’s corporate interests. Several of Musk’s various companies have been fined for labor law violations by divisions within the DOL, and his company SpaceX filed a suit last year challenging the constitutionality of the National Labor Relations Board’ structure.

Republicans in Congress have also expressed interest in shuttering the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which operates under the Labor Department and is charged with enforcing workplace safety regulations.

The mission of the Labor Department 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.”

The department wears many hats, but a few of its primary functions include:

• Compiling employment data.

• Supporting workforce development.

• Managing funding and guidelines for state unemployment insurance programs

• Promoting workers’ rights, including fair working conditions.

• Compliance assistance for employers. 

• Maintaining the Job Corps, a residential career training program. 

• Administrative Review Board (ARB)

• Benefits Review Board (BRB)

• Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB)

• Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)

• Centers for Faith and Opportunity Initiatives (CFOI)

• Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)

• Employees’ Compensation Appeals Board (ECAB)

• Employment and Training Administration (ETA)

• Mine Safety & Health Administration (MSHA)

• Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

• Office of Administrative Law Judges (OALJ)

• Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs (OCIA)

• Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP)

• Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP)

• Office of Inspector General (OIG)

• Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS)

• Office of Public Liaison (OPL)

• Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management (OASAM)

• Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy (OASP)

• Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO)

• Office of the Solicitor (SOL)

• Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP)

• Ombudsman for the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program (EEOMBD)

• Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC)

• Veterans’ Employment and Training Service (VETS)

• Wage and Hour Division (WHD)

Some of the key labor laws the DOL enforces include:

Additional labor laws that the DOL enforces are listed here.

Multiple divisions under the Labor Department, collects and investigates confidential complaints from workers.

To file a complaint you’ll typically need to gather personal and work information including your name and contact information; the company you work or worked for and its location, contact information and manager or owner; the work you did; your payment and records of hours worked.

Submit questions/comments here.