Dept. of Labor reorganizations

There apparently hasn't been an official announcement as of yet, but there's been confirmed mention that the Department of Labor is going to be abolishing its Employment Standards Administration as of November 8, 2009 in an internal reorganization which will result in the Wage & Hours, Workers’ Compensation, Office of Federal Contract Compliance, and Labor Management Standards all now reporting directly to the Assistant Secretary of Labor.

Established in 1971 as the Workplace Standards Administration, and renamed Employment Standards Administration in 1972, it represents the largest agency currently in the Department of Labor.

Morgan Lewis, an international law firm with 22 offices having its corporate headquarters in Philadelphia, posted an labor & employment alert last week which says, "importantly, the abolishment of the ESA will leave employers with one less avenue of appeal for actions taken by ESA agencies," and that they will now "not have much time to prepare for what promises to be decisive implementation of the Secretary’s pro-enforcement agenda across the broad spectrum of workplace laws & regulations enforced by the Department of Labor."

New Employment Standards organizational chart