The Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) has issued its Semiannual Report to Congress, (pdf) outlining its significant accomplishments made during the six-month period ending March 31, 2011, and making a number of legislative recommendations. The OIG conducts audits and evaluations to review the effectiveness, efficiency, economy, and integrity of all DOL programs and operations, including those performed by its contractors and grantees. The office is also responsible for conducting criminal investigations regarding labor union racketeering and organized crime. According to the report, the OIG’s investigative work resulted in 207 indictments, 133 convictions, and $155 million in investigative recoveries, cost-efficiencies, restitutions, fines and penalties, forfeitures, and civil monetary action.

The OIG’s report was once again critical of the operation and efficiency of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Among other issues taken with the agency, the OIG was concerned with OSHA’s “inability to best target its resources and measure the impact of its efforts. Since OSHA can reach only a fraction of the seven million entities it regulates, it must strive to target the most egregious and persistent violators while protecting the most vulnerable worker populations.” An OIG audit found, however, that OSHA “has not effectively evaluated the impact of hundreds of millions of dollars in penalty reductions as incentives to reducing workplace hazards.” In addition, the OIG claimed that the agency has, on occasion, failed to follow its own policies and procedures while investigating whistleblower complaints.

The OIG report also found fault with the operation of the DOL’s Foreign Labor Certification (FLC) programs, and the lack of Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) oversight of pension protection regulations.

Among other recommendations, the OIG called for legislation to accomplish the following:

• Allow DOL Access to Wage Records. According to the report, the OIG needs legislative authority to easily and expeditiously access state UI wage records, SSA wage records, and employment information from the National Directory of New Hires (NDNH) in order to reduce overpayments in employee benefit programs.
• Amend Pension Protection Laws. In order to increase the protection of pension plan assets, the OIG recommends that legislation be drafted to amend ERISA and include criminal penalties for ERISA violations. Such legislative changes would expand the authority of EBSA to correct substandard benefit plan audits and ensure that auditors with poor records do not perform additional plan audits; repeal ERISA’s limited-scope audit exemption, and require direct reporting of ERISA violations to the DOL.
• Provide the DOL with more Authority over Foreign Labor Certification Process. The OIG audit found that that the FLC programs are prone to fraud and abuse. Therefore, if the DOL is to have “a meaningful role in the H-1B specialty occupations foreign labor certification process, it must have the statutory authority to ensure the integrity of that process, including the ability to verify the accuracy of information provided on labor condition applications.”

More information on the OIG and a link to the full report can be found here.

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