President Trump delivered his second proposed annual budget to Congress earlier this week, containing the Administration’s recommendations for funding the federal government in the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2019), which runs from October 1, 2018, to September 30, 2019.
Although the President’s recommendations regarding the agencies that enforce workplace requirements are largely in line with the numbers proposed last year, the President is no longer calling for a merger of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Labor Department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), confirming that the prospect of such a merger is no longer on the table.
As was the case with last year’s proposal, the FY 2019 budget request calls for the creation of a paid parental leave program to be funded through the unemployment insurance system and proposes making the E-Verify system for verifying employment eligibility mandatory for all employers.
With respect to funding for key workplace enforcement agencies, the proposed budget would cut OFCCP’s budget by 13.4 percent and the budget of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) by 9.2 percent. The EEOC would once again receive flat funding. DOL’s Wage and Hour Division, which enforces the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and the minimum wage and overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), would actually get a modest budget increase.
Please keep in mind that the President’s annual budget request should be viewed more as aspirational than practical. In the end, it will be Congress – not the Administration – that decides on final numbers, as well as any proposed policy changes. Accordingly, there are likely to be substantial modifications to the proposals cited above.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.