The federal government reopened on Oct. 17 after at 16-day shutdown and agencies that either weren’t operating or were only partially operating during that time are back up and running. Here is some information on what ABC members can expect from a few of the agencies post-shutdown.
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)
The NLRB has announced that it will grant an extension of time to file or serve any document for which the grant of an extension is permitted by law. More information is available in a
blog post by ABC's General Counsel Littler Mendelson.
E-Verify
The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) E-Verify program, which ceased to operate during the shutdown, is once again available for use by employers. DHS has released guidance for employers who were impacted by E-Verify’s temporary unavailability. More information on that guidance also is
available in a Littler Mendelson blog post.
Department of Labor (DOL)
During the shutdown, OSHA furloughed the vast majority of its inspectors and was staffed at only about 10 percent. Now, the agency is again fully staffed and working on issues it was addressing before the shutdown, including moving forward with its rule on crystalline silica, over which
ABC has expressed concern.
In addition, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, DOL’s Wage and Hour Division and the Office of Labor-Management Standards are all operating at pre-shutdown capacity and continuing to move forward on actions listed in the
last regulatory agenda.