The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has released its yearly audit of the operations of the Department of Labor (DOL). Among the findings are these major points:
- The use of limited-scope audits by independent public accountants that are authorized under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) allowed $3.3 trillion in assets to be excluded from audit review.
- Management of the H-2B visa program needed to be strengthened to ensure adequate wage and job protections for U.S. workers.
- Oversight of Job Corps centers’ performance needed to be improved to ensure that centers meet performance goals relatingto academic and career technical training programs.
- OSHA site specific inspection targeting program covered only a small portion of high-risk worksites nationwide.
- Bureau of Labor Statistics’ requirements designed to protect confidential economic data and statistics from being disclosed prematurely or used in an unauthorized manner were violated in North Carolina, Wisconsin, Washington, and Louisiana.
- Corrective actions taken as a result of the Mine Safety and Health Administration’s accountability reviews did not always prevent the recurrence of deficiencies, such as the failure to conduct safety and health inspections for all working shifts at metal/nonmetal mines.