The Department of Labor plans to continue scaled-back operations should the federal government shut down due to lack of appropriations. According to a memorandum (pdf) issued by DOL Solicitor M. Patricia Smith, in the event of a shutdown, the agency will retain approximately 1,650 out of 16,099 employees to carry out necessary functions and to “protect life and property.” The memorandum outlines the DOL’s shutdown plans that the Office of the Solicitor (SOL) has approved; includes documentation from the heads of the various DOL sub-agencies acknowledging that their agencies will generally cease operations, with some limited exceptions; and provides the SOL’s plan “for continuing a minimal level of activities sufficient to support the excepted activities of the Department under applicable legal standards.”

The SOL defines “excepted activities” as those authorized by law to continue during a lapse in appropriations, such as when: (a) funds remain legally available; (b) authority to undertake minimal obligations is necessarily inferable from other statutes; or (c) the agency’s activities are necessary “to address imminent threats to the safety of human life or the protection or property.”

As discussed in the memo, the approximately 1,650 employees to continue working during a shutdown include:

• 53 employees (including 10 individuals on call for the Office of Labor Management Standards) engaged in law enforcement;
• 463 employees (including 1 individual on call for the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP)) whose compensation is financed by a resource other than annual appropriations. These workers are employed by the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) and the OWCP; and
• 1,285 employees who are not otherwise exempt, but will be retained to protect life and property. Such individuals are employed at the DOL’s worker protection agencies, including the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), the Wage and Hour Division (WHD), and the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA).

The 55-page memorandum includes the various sub-agency contingency plans that were approved by the SOL.