Department of Labor Releases Fiscal Year 2013 Budget Request

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has outlined its part of the president's fiscal year 2013 budget request to Congress. The department's budget request totals $12.0 billion in discretionary funding. The DOL budget discontinues the Women in Apprenticeship in Non-Traditional Occupations program and the Veterans Workforce Investment Program, but bolsters other veteran-focused activities, expands Registered Apprenticeships and improves service delivery innovation for all employment training programs through the Workforce Innovation Fund. It proposes the strategic consolidation of several regional offices. It proposes to strengthen the defined benefit pension system by giving the board of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (PBGC) authority to adjust premiums and directing the PBGC to take into account the risks that different sponsors pose to their retirees and to the PBGC itself. The department will provide the Wage and Hour Division with $10 million to combat worker misclassification and other violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act. For more information, see the Budget document and a question-and-answer session on the DOL website.