2023 Chief FOIA Officer Report - Solicitor of Labor/DOL Chief FOIA Officer Report

DOL Seal

U.S. Department of Labor

2023 Chief FOIA Officer Report
Solicitor of Labor/DOL Chief FOIA Officer

(March 14, 2022 through March 13, 2023)

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Within the United States Department of Labor (DOL or the Department), day-to-day FOIA operation is decentralized. As a result, each of the 23 agency components has been given flexibility to design a program that meets its needs. Most agencies have delegated their disclosure responsibilities to officials at the Office Director or Division Chief level in Washington, as well as to their regional offices. Others have delegated their field FOIA responsibilities to district or area offices. Conversely, some small agencies handle all of their FOIA requests centrally in Washington, DC. The differing agency practices are explained partly by the number of requests that agencies receive and partly by the nature of the programs they administer.

The Office of the Solicitor (SOL) serves as the focal point for FOIA activities within the Department. SOL houses the Department's Chief FOIA Officer and FOIA Public Liaison. In addition, the SOL Management and Administrative Legal Services Division (MALS) houses the Office of Information Services (OIS), Counsel for FOIA, FACA and Privacy Act, as well as the Counsel for FOIA Appeals. These programmatic and counsel areas are responsible for providing department-wide guidance regarding FOIA compliance, making administrative appeal determinations, defending FOIA litigation as well as carrying out responsibilities associated with FOIA performance measurement and reporting requirements, including the statutorily mandated FOIA Annual Report.

Although FOIA operations are decentralized, the Office of Information Services functions as the Department's central FOIA office and has agency-wide responsibility for managing the FOIA program. During Fiscal Year 2022, the U.S. Department of Labor received 14,491 FOIA requests and processed 14,355 requests. As demonstrated within the table below, most of the requests received were directed to the following agency components: Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA – 57%), followed by the Wage and Hour Division (WHD – 11%), Employment Training Administration (ETA – 6%), Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA – 4%) and the Office of Workers Compensation Programs (OWCP - 10%). The remaining 11 percent of the Department's requests were received by the other 18 agency components.

Total Number of Requests Received: 14,491

DOL FOIA Modernization – Phase I

For approximately four years (January 2019 through January 2023), DOL has been engaged in a "FOIA Modernization Initiative" aimed at implementing changes to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the Department's FOIA program.

This ongoing initiative continues to emphasize process reengineering, backlog reduction and other approaches that can be implemented to promote improvements and administrative efficiencies within the Department's FOIA program. DOL has also focused on leveraging technology, such as a recently acquired tracking system and the use of eDiscovery tools, to promote programmatic improvements.

DOL FOIA Modernization – Phase II

As part of the statutory requirement for a robust FOIA program, the Department's Chief FOIA Officer has placed significant emphasis on building on the success of the initial FOIA Modernization effort. Specifically, in a keynote address delivered as part of the Department's FY22 FOIA Conference, the Chief FOIA Officer informed the Department's FOIA staff that the next aspect of the modernization initiative will focus on the following four areas:

Aligning our policy documents with our current work processes
Continued attention to backlog reduction
Ongoing learning opportunities for FOIA professionals
Customer service

To ensure an efficient and effective FOIA program, there has been a renewed commitment to training that promotes proficiency among our FOIA professionals across the Department. On May 17 - 19, 2022, the Office of the Solicitor, Office of Information Services hosted its first fully Virtual FOIA Training Conference. With a theme of "Effectively Implementing FOIA Through Openness, Transparency and Processing Improvements," the lecture-styled training was presented via a WebEx production and was attended by over 500 employees, representing each DOL agency component. There will be ongoing learning opportunities scheduled during the upcoming year planned to include a comprehensive course on FOIAXpress functionality. In addition to the formal trainings, the Department has plans to engage in informal learning sessions in the form of briefings and brown bag sessions to discuss topics such as FOIA best practices, effective customer service and FOIA backlog reduction.

SECTION I: FOIA LEADERSHIP AND APPLYING THE PRESUMPTION OF OPENNESS

The guiding principle underlying the Attorney General's FOIA Guidelines is the presumption of openness. The Guidelines also highlight the importance of agency leadership in ensuring effective FOIA administration. Please answer the following questions about FOIA leadership at your agency and describe the steps your agency has taken to ensure that the presumption of openness is being applied to all decisions involving the FOIA.

A. Leadership Support for FOIA

1. The FOIA requires each agency to designate a Chief FOIA Officer who is a senior official at least at the Assistant Secretary or equivalent level. See 5 U.S.C. § 552(j)(1) (2018). Is your agency's Chief FOIA Officer at or above this level?

Yes

2. Please provide the name and title of your agency's Chief FOIA Officer.

The Chief FOIA Officer is Seema Nanda, Solicitor of Labor.

3. What steps has your agency taken to incorporate FOIA into its core mission? For example, has your agency incorporated FOIA milestones into its strategic plan? Yes

FOIA strategic milestones and process measures are incorporated at the Departmental level and are tracked, monitored and reported at the highest levels of leadership within each DOL agency component leadership. On a quarterly basis performance data is distributed as a part of the overarching DOL Financial and Administrative Score Card as well as in SOL's Agency Management Plan to ensure the appropriate visibility of FOIA data for the Chief FOIA Officer.

B. Presumption of Openness

4. The Attorney General's 2022 FOIA Guidelines provides that "agencies should confirm in response letters to FOIA requesters that they have considered the foreseeable harm standard when reviewing records and applying FOIA exemptions." Does your agency provide such confirmation in its response letters?

Yes. All DOL agency components have been briefed on the foreseeable harm standard and report that they use the standard in all instances where the test is required. Further, all DOL's designated FOIA Coordinators and contacts have received specific training on the foreseeable harm standard as contemplated in the Attorney General's 2022 FOIA Guidelines as it relates to adding language regarding the applicability of the foreseeable harm standard in making disclosures. While guidance as to the suggested standard language has been discussed with DOL's free standing agency components, it has been left to their discretion whether or not the language is included in interim or final disclosure letters. At the time of this reporting, only OSHA and MSHA report that they provide applicable exemption language in all response letters to those requesters who receive responsive records with applied redactions.

5. In some circumstances, agencies may respond to a requester that it can neither confirm nor deny the existence of requested records if acknowledging the existence of records would harm an interested protected by a FOIA exemption. This is commonly referred to as a Glomar response. With respect to these responses, please answer the below questions:

In addition to tracking the asserted exemption, does your agency specifically track whether a request involved a Glomar response?

No. However, when surveyed, no DOL agency components reported that they provided a Glomar response during this reporting period.

If yes, please provide:
1. the number of times your agency issued a full or partial Glomar response (separate full and partial if possible); N/A
2. the number of times a Glomar response was issued by exemption (e.g., Exemption 7(C) – 20 times, Exemption 1 – 5 times). N/A
If your agency does not track the use of Glomar responses, what would your agency need to do to track in the future? If possible, please describe the resources and time involved.

The Department of Labor only tracks data currently required in the DOJ FOIA schema. To capture accurate data regarding the use of Glomar responses, DOL would have to incur the cost of exploring possible modification of its current FOIA tracking system to capture the data. At this time, we are not able to estimate how much time or cost would be associated with such an endeavor, which would include resources necessary to train our staff in order to be able to capture such data in a meaningful way.

6. Optional -- If there are any other initiatives undertaken by your agency to ensure that the presumption of openness is being applied, please describe them here.

SECTION II: ENSURING FAIR AND EFFECTIVE FOIA ADMINISTRATION

The Attorney General's FOIA Guidelines provide that "[e]nsuring fair and effective FOIA administration requires . . . proper training, and a full understanding of FOIA obligations by the entire agency workforce." The Guidelines reinforce longstanding guidance to "work with FOIA requesters in a spirit of operation." The Attorney General also "urge[s] agency Chief FOIA Officers to undertake comprehensive review of all aspects of their agency's FOIA administration" as part of ensuring fair and effective FOIA administration.

A. FOIA Training

1. The FOIA directs agency Chief FOIA Officers to ensure that FOIA training is offered to agency personnel. See 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(j)(2)(F). Please describe the efforts your agency has undertaken to ensure proper FOIA training is made available and used by agency personnel.

Response is incorporated in #3 below.

2. Did your FOIA professionals or the personnel at your agency who have FOIA responsibilities attend substantive FOIA training during the reporting period such as that provided by the Department of Justice?

Yes. Please see response to #3 and chart below.

3. If yes, please provide a brief description of the type of training attended or conducted and the topics covered.

The Department of Labor offers an array of FOIA training to its staff, as described below. In addition, DOL has made a concerted effort to encourage FOIA staff to take part in other training opportunities such as those that are provided by the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as other organizations that offer comprehensive FOIA instruction.

2022 Virtual FOIA Training Conference

On May 17, 18 and 19, 2022, the Office of the Solicitor, Office of Information Services hosted its first fully Virtual FOIA Training Conference. The lecture-styled training was presented via a WEBEX production and was attended by over 500 employees, with representation from each DOL agency component. The three day event took place from 12:45pm (EST) to 5:00pm (EST) each day, making the training available to DOL employees in other time zones nationwide.

The training was designed to train Department of Labor FOIA professionals on a variety of topics, including sessions on FOIA Administrative Processing Overview; FOIA Exemptions Overview; Privacy Act and SORNs; FOIA Exemption 5; FOIA and Records Management Interface; Administrative Appeals and Litigation Considerations; Fees and Fee Waivers; FOIA Exemption 4; Overview of the FOIAXpress Case Management System; Exemption 7(D) and Investigative Files; FOIA Best Practices and Process Management; Third Party Subpoenas; and an Open Forum Question and Answer Session.

OIS FOIA Training Sessions

FOIA Consolidated and Coordinated Treatment - OIS hosted a training session concerning the handling of FOIA requests that are designated for consolidated or coordinated processing in accordance with 29 C.F.R. § 70.20(a). The training was conducted by the Department's FOIA Public Liaison and the Director of OIS and consisted of an overview of Departmental Procedures for Coordinated and/or Consolidated FOIA requests. This training also provided FOIA professionals with the opportunity to present questions regarding processing FOIA requests in a coordinated or consolidated manner to promote consistency.

FOIA Tacking System Management –

OIS conducted a brief training for FOIA Coordinators to share guidance on effectively using FOIAXpress to gain important information about the assignment history of FOIA requests.
In coordination with OIS, the support contractor for the DOL FOIA Tracking system conducted a session to instruct FOIA Coordinators on how to run quarterly reports to assist in auding data and track progress against the established Departmental FOIA process measures and milestones on timely processing and backlog reduction.

DOL LearningLink Courses.

The Department also provides FOIA training for managers and FOIA Service Center staff via its LearningLink on-line training library. LearningLink is DOL's e-Training solution which provides employees access to a one-stop portal of training programs and services. The Department requires that all new and current employees with FOIA responsibilities utilize the Learning Link On-line Module for FOIA training. FOIA professionals may choose one of two FOIA e-learning training courses that include courses entitled, "FOIA e-Learning Professionals Training" and "FOIA e-Learning Employees Training." The first module is an in-depth course specifically designed for FOIA professionals, addressing all of the major procedural and substantive requirements of FOIA. The second course is a brief module designed for all employees that provide limited FOIA support and highlights ways in which employees can assist their agencies in the administration of the FOIA statute. DOL is currently working to launch the revised e-learning training slides that DOJ issued late last year and to post the updated FOIA Infographic on the Department's intranet.

Training Videos on the DOL FOIA LaborNet Page

The Department has made available to DOL employees via its internal LaborNet page, a series of videos and training slide decks that contain segments of sessions that were pre-recorded from prior DOL FOIA training conferences. In 2022, a recording of the entire Virtual FOIA Training Conference was added for viewing. In addition, during FY 2021, OIS added a video library that contains FOIAXpress training modules. The FOIAXpress segments continue to service as an excellent reference source for both new FOIA staff and other professionals who require a refresher regarding the Department's FOIA case management system.

Quarterly FOIA Briefings

DOL, through OIS, holds quarterly FOIA Coordinator briefings which all FOIA contacts Department-wide are encouraged to attend. The primary purpose of the sessions is to share best practices and offer administrative and procedural guidance to staff. During FY 2022, FOIA Coordinators were also briefed on FOIAXpress functionality through scheduled demonstrations and questions and answer sessions. Other topics of interest included FOIA reporting, backlog reduction plans and FOIA administrative process guidance.

FOIA Bulletins

OIS issued two FOIA Bulletins in the past year to the DOL FOIA community:

FOIAXpress Rules of Behavior – April 2022
Department of Justice Training Opportunities – August 2022

4. Please provide an estimate of the percentage of your FOIA professionals and staff with FOIA responsibilities who attended substantive FOIA training during this reporting period.

100%

5. OIP has directed agencies to "take steps to ensure that all of their FOIA professionals attend substantive FOIA training at least once throughout the year." If your response to the previous question is that less than 80% of your FOIA professionals attended training, please explain your agency's plan to ensure that all FOIA professionals receive or attend substantive FOIA training during the next reporting year.

N/A

6. Describe any efforts your agency has undertaken to inform non-FOIA professionals of their obligations under the FOIA. In particular, please describe how often and in what formats your agency provides FOIA training or briefings to non-FOIA staff; and if senior leaders at your agency received a briefing on your agency's FOIA resources, obligations and expectations during the FOIA process?

In particular, the OIS FOIA training materials are available to all DOL staff on the Department's LaborNet. SOL FOIA leaders including in OIS and the FOIA counsel areas conducted periodic briefings and Q&A sessions for leadership in SOL and other DOL agencies. The Department's Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management (OASAM) conducted an annual records management training in FY 2022 that is required for all DOL staff, and which included content on FOIA.

During the year, there were a number of opportunities for senior leadership to be briefed regarding FOIA obligations and expectations. The Chief FOIA Officer, directly or by delegation, routinely briefs Departmental leadership regarding FOIA responsibilities. Each DOL agency component has a Lead FOIA Coordinator. Lead Coordinators routinely brief their agency management regarding their individual resource needs as well as Departmental FOIA expectations.

Additional information on FOIA training for particular DOL FOIA components is contained in the table below.

Agency Component	“FOIA Training”	Percentage Trained
Adj Bds	Adjudicatory Board staff participated in the May 2022 DOL Virtual FOIA Training Conference that was held on May 17 - 19, 2022. FOIA staff also attended the DOL quarterly FOIA briefings.	100%
BLS	Bureau of Labor Statistics FOIA staff attended the DOL Virtual FOIA Training Conference, DOL quarterly meetings, DOJ OIP trainings, and the Annual American Society for Access Professionals (ASAP) FOIA conference. BLS FOIA professionals also attended DOJ OIP trainings on Exemption 4, 5, and 6. They also attended trainings on the Privacy Act.	100%
EBSA	During this reporting period, the EBSA National Office either presented or participated in various types of FOIA training. The EBSA Lead FOIA Coordinator and the Enforcement Office’s FOIA Coordinator provided two detailed training sessions to FOIA personnel on: FOIA Basics, processing tracks, Exemption 5, 6, & 7(a-d), and SORNS and the Privacy Act of 1974 (approximately 47 EBSA participants each time). The National Office FOIA team also presented four separate FOIAXpress system functionality sessions to small field groups (10 EBSA participants) and provided individual support multiple times. New EBSA FOIA Coordinators and Processors completed LearningLink courses: “FOIA eLearning Employees Training”, “FOIA eLearning Professional Training,” and “the Freedom of Information Act” (approximately 8 participants for each). EBSA is considering whether to make these trainings mandatory to all employees and/or FOIA personnel for completion by March 1, 2023. EBSA staff nationwide attended the Virtual FOIA Training Conference presented by the DOL/SOL, which focused on Effectively Implementing the FOIA Through Openness, Transparency, and Process Improvement. EBSA FOIA Coordinator staff also participated in Department of Justice training on various topics that included an overview of the FOIA’s procedural requirements, an overview of FOIA exemptions, basic principles for processing FOIA requests from start to finish, communicating with requesters, searching for and reviewing documents.	100%
ETA	ETA personnel attended the following FOIA trainings during the reporting period: Virtual Litigation Workshop (DOJ) Virtual Procedural Requirements and Fee Training (DOJ) 2022 Department of Labor Virtual FOIA Training Conference (DOL)	100%
ILAB	The ILAB FOIA coordinator attended training sessions and quarterly meetings conducted by SOL and DOJ throughout the year. The FOIA coordinator attended the following training sessions and meetings: March 17, 2022 - 2nd quarter FOIA meeting June 15, 2022 - 3rd quarter FOIA meeting September 22, 2022, 4th quarter FOIA meeting 2022 Virtual FOIA Training Conference with DOL Additionally, ILAB’s back-up FOIA coordinator completed a three-day FOIA course through Management Concepts and is also taking training on FOIAXpress and through DOJ OIP	100%
MSHA	MSHA FOIA staff participated in DOL Quarterly FOIA coordinator virtual conferences, DOL’s 2022 Virtual FOIA Training Conference covering all FOIA topics, and DOL’s pre-recorded training videos regarding the FOIA system (FOIAXpress). The pre-recorded trainings not only covered the mechanics of the system, but it also provided a good review on the FOIA process while using the system. Individual program offices conducted virtual meetings within their group to reinforce topics that had been covered in larger settings, including, a FOIA Community of Practice meeting and desk-side coaching for new FOIA coordinators. These discussions provided information on the FOIA processes, best practices, and FOIAXpress training. New FOIA Coordinators assigned during FY2022 and FY2023 completed the following on-line training, in addition to hands on training with the Districts’ FOIA Coordinator: FOIA eLearning Professional Training FOIA eLearning Employees Training FOIAXpress Training These courses covered procedural requirements, FOIA processing start to finish, Exemptions overview, and general challenges in FOIA processing. Additionally, the majority of the MSHA FOIA Coordinators took FOIA training provided by DOL and DOJ. These virtual training courses included: Virtual Intro to FOIA, April 6, 2022 Three Day 2022 Virtual FOIA Training Conference, May - 19, 2022 Virtual Exemption 1 and Exemption 7 Training, June 1, 2022 Virtual Exemption 4 & 5, June 14, 2022 The Office of Information Services Quarterly Meetings The Office of Information Services FOIA Monthly Training Series, Virtual Annual FOIA Report Refresher and Quarterly Report Training, October 4, 2022	100%
OALJ	OALJ FOIA professionals attended the 2022 Virtual FOIA Training Conference. OALJ also provides orientation for new judges and new law clerks that includes a session is about the relationship between FOIA and administrative hearings, and what judges and law clerks should do when receiving a FOIA-related issue or assignment. OALJ’s intranet contains information accessible to all OALJ staff regarding FOIA responsibilities and procedures, DOL FOIA Guidance and resources, FOIA Memoranda and Manuals, DOJ FOIA Guides and DOL FOIA Training conference materials in addition to links to other FOIA resources. Senior leaders are apprised of agency FOIA resources, obligations, and expectations.	100%
OASAM	OASAM FOIA personnel attended the following trainings: SOL’s Virtual FOIA Training Conference Webinar Training and Quarterly Meetings OASAM FOIA Training FOIA Exemptions Fee Calculations Navigating FOIAXpress: Generating Reports, Adding and Delivering Documents, Closing FOIAs, Applying Redactions Department of Justice FOIA Training: Virtual Introduction to the Freedom of Information Act Virtual Processing a Request from Start to Finish Virtual Procedural Requirements and Fees Training Virtual Litigation Workshop Virtual Exemption 1 and Exemption 7 Training Virtual Exemption 4 and Exemption 5 Training Virtual Privacy Considerations Training Virtual Continuing FOIA Education	100%
OASP	The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy (OASP) FOIA Coordinator attended the DOL 2022 Virtual FOIA Training Conference; FOIA Training provided through the Department’s LearningLink website and Virtual FOIA Training provided by the Department of Justice (DOJ). The U.S. Department of Justice Virtual Courses: Virtual Introduction to FOIA Virtual Privacy Consideration Workshop Virtual Exemption 1 and Exemption 7 Workshop Virtual Continuing FOIA Education Virtual Procedural Requirements and Fees Workshop Virtual Chief FOIA officer Report Training	100%
OCFO	OCFO FOIA staff attended DOL quarterly briefings and the DOL 2022 Virtual FOIA Training Conference in May 2022.	100%
OCIA	Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs FOIA staff attend the 2022 DOL Virtual FOIA Training Conference in May 2022 and attended the DOL Quarterly FOIA Coordinators Meetings hosted by the Office of Information Services.	100%
ODEP	The Office of Disability Employment Programs FOIA staff attended the 2022 DOL Virtual FOIA Training Conference held in May 2022.	100%
OFCCP	The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs FOIA team attended online training offered by DOJ meant to apprise FOIA practitioners about new issues with FOIA. The training sessions included how to process a FOIA request from start to finish, privacy considerations, training on exemptions 5 and 7 and introductory FOIA training. OFCCP FOIA staff also attended the 2022 DOL Virtual FOIA Conference that took place in May 2022.	100%
OIG	Office of the Inspector General FOIA staff attended the following trainings: DOJ’s Advanced FOIA Training, DOJ Privacy Considerations Training, DOJ Procedural Requirements Training, DOJ FOIA Exemptions 5 and 7, DOJ FOIA Exemption 6 and 7 training, and DOL 2022 three half day FOIA Training Conference	100%
OLMS	Office of Labor-Management Standards FOIA staff attended the 2022 DOL Virtual FOIA Training Conference.	100%
OPA	Office of Public Affairs FOIA staff has attended the 2022 DOL Virtual FOIA Training Conference that took place in May 2022.	100%
OSEC	Office of the Secretary FOIA staff participated in the 2022 Virtual FOIA Training Conference and SOL’s FOIA Training Series I: Departmental Procedures on Coordinated and/or Consolidated FOIA requests.	100%
OSHA	The Occupational Safety and Health Administration held multiple series of FOIA training including a virtual three (3) day and a virtual four (4) day FOIA training. Specific regions have also been provided additional training. OSHA also offers Q&A calls with its FOIA team where various FOIA issues are discussed. The Office of Communication receives multiple calls and emails from OSHA’s processing offices with FOIA questions and uses the opportunity to provide training to the FOIA staff. OSHA’s FOIA training is open to all OSHA personnel. Further, OSHA alerts its FOIA personnel to all Department of Justice and Department of Labor provided training opportunities. OSHA FOIA personnel attended the 2022 DOL Virtual FOIA Training Conference that took place in May 2022.	100%
OWCP	Office of Workers’ Compensation Program FOIA staff attended DOL’s Quarterly FOIA briefings and the 2022 DOL Virtual FOIA Training Conference that was hosted by the Office of Information Services. Within OWCP, the DEEOIC Branch of Outreach and Technical Assistance (BOTA) has conducted DEEOIC staff training on Privacy Act request matters, via a WebEx presentation, presented to the DEEOIC Field Office and National Office staff, which, in part, addressed the DEEOIC District Offices’ and the Final Adjudication Branch (FAB) offices’ responsibilities to forward FOIA requests to BOTA for FOIA request processing.	100%
SOL	The Office of the Solicitor – Management and Administrative Legal Services Division - Office of Information Services (OIS) hosted the 2022 DOL Virtual FOIA Training Conference in May 2022. All SOL and DOL FOIA Coordinators were in attendance. SOL maintains an internal DOL website that provides various helpful FOIA resources for DOL agency components to review that includes guidance regarding FOIA best practices, an updated DOL National FOIA directory, FOIA training conference video segments, as well as prerecorded video tutorials that serve as guides regarding FOIAXpress functionality. All DOL employees have the ability to access the FOIA page to view the online training modules and best practices documents; review FOIA implementing regulations and annual reports; experience online tutorials and review examples of FOIA response letters. Office of the Solicitor FOIA professionals also attended trainings at the DOJ – OIP and attended DOL Quarterly FOIA Meetings that were held by the Office of Information Services. SOL held a “New Employees Orientation” and a “Paralegal Training Session,” both of which included information on the FOIA.	100%
VETS	The primary purpose of the Veterans Administration’s efforts in this area has been to foster and promote FOIA training opportunities that are made available to DOL. The following FOIA sessions have been attended by VETS staff: Department of Labor - FOIA Trainings FOIAXpress User Training Department’s FOIAXpress Demo Training Series The Department’s 2022 Annual Virtual FOIA Training Conference (May 17-19, 2022) 3rd Quarter FOIA Coordinators Meeting that included a FOIAXpress Training Demo (Teams), June 2022 FOIA Monthly Training Series, Departmental Procedures on Coordinated and/or Consolidated FOIA requests (TEAMS), July 2022 4th Quarter FOIA Coordinators Meeting that included a FOIAXpress Training Demo (Teams), September 2022 Department of Justice (DOJ)/Office of Information Policy – FOIA Trainings Basic Freedom of Information Act Training; Advanced Freedom of Information Act Training; Privacy Considerations; Exemptions 1-9; and Exemption 1 and Exemption 7 Additionally, on a monthly and annually basis, VETS provides training and briefings to non-FOIA staff through Regional Compliance Calls and trainings where FOIA matters are regularly discussed. Senior Leaders are present in these calls and receive the briefings.	100%
WB	The Women’s Bureau provided agency FOIA personnel access to the DOL LearningLink library e-Training solution to provide online FOIA training for WB FOIA personnel. FOIA personnel utilized the DOL LearningLink one-stop portal on-line library and e-Training solution which provided access to training programs and services to complete online the FOIA e-Learning Professional Training module, an in-depth course specifically designed for FOIA professionals, addressing all of the major procedural and substantive requirements of FOIA. WB FOIA personnel also participated in the 3-day Virtual FOIA Training Conference sponsored by the Office of the Solicitor – Office of Information Services. WB (FOIA Coordinator) developed a comprehensive one-stop WB FOIA Resource and Information Toolkit updated and distributed annually and ad-hoc to staff to provide supplemental FOIA training materials in order to enhance knowledge of FOIA & FOIA processes; FOIA reporting; and address FAQs. The WB FOIA Toolkit was made available electronically and via WB SharePoint to all agency staff. In addition to the WB Toolkit, agency new employees, including WB senior leaders were briefed on FOIA upon onboarding. The agency provided FOIA resource links, guidance, and information on available FOIA LearningLink training available via the DOL LaborNet.	100%
WHD	The Wage and Hour Division, Branch of Document Management staff attended the Department of Labor’s Office of the Solicitor 2022 Virtual FOIA Training Conference between May 17-19, 2022. Additionally, there are several training guides and presentations available to FOIA professionals on LaborNet. The Wage and Hour Division FOIA Office holds training sessions in conjunction with our weekly FOIA staff meetings. These training sessions cover various aspects of FOIA processing relevant to the current workload and case files moving through the office at the time. They are topical and cover a wide range of FOIA concepts and issues as well as the various tools available such as FOIAXpress, Adobe Professional, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Word when processing FOIA requests.	100%

B. Outreach

7. Did your FOIA professionals engage in any outreach or dialogue, outside of the standard request process, with the requester community or open government groups regarding your administration of the FOIA?

Yes

Please describe any such outreach or dialogue, and, if applicable, any specific examples of how this dialogue has led to improvements in your agency's FOIA administration.

Agency Component	Outreach and Other Initiatives
Adj Bds	FOIA staff reach out to requesters as appropriate to discuss scope and other issues in relation to requests.
BLS	The Bureau of Labor Statistics staff reach out to requesters as appropriate to discuss scope and other issues regarding requests.
EBSA	Through phone calls, emails, and correspondences, EBSA National and Regional Program Offices communicate with the requester community on an on-going basis to clarify questions, negotiate the scope of requests, and address fee-related questions. EBSA FOIA personnel maintain open dialogue with most “frequent requesters.” EBSA FOIA professionals participate in dialogue and outreach with the requester community through the FOIA status box, as well as through the DOL FOIA Public Liaison to address and resolve any concerns raised by FOIA requesters.
ETA	FOIA coordinators are required to notify requesters via email or phone as soon as they identify a possibility to narrow the scope of a voluminous or complex request. For clarification done via phone, a follow up email confirming the details of the conversation must be sent to the requester with two business days. One way that ETA encourages communication with requesters is that each ETA program office has access to a customized report within FOIAXpress that allows them to review their processing metrics. Program offices are also notified weekly regarding overdue requests using the report scheduler function within FOIAXpress.
ILAB	ILAB staff reach out to requesters as appropriate to discuss scope and other issues in relation to requests.
MSHA	MSHA FOIA Coordinators routinely provide requesters with relevant information to guide them through the FOIA process. They are informed of the approximate time needed to complete the request and are given the opportunities to modify their requests. Requesters are regularly notified of status updates pertaining to their requests such as when requests have been referred to another agency, rerouted to another office, or are delayed. MSHA FOIA Coordinators also direct requestors to data publicly available on MSHA's website if publicly available information will sufficiently respond to the request. These interactions helped ensure that FOIA requests were responded to in the most efficient and timely fashion. MSHA FOIA coordinators often reach out to requestors to seek clarification or discuss narrowing the scope which often leads to a better understanding of the information sought. As a result, the records can then be provided in a more cost-effective and timely manner. This routinely happens with requests that ask for a voluminous number of citations. MSHA will contact the FOIA requesters to explain that, rather than provide hundreds of pages of records, we can provide the same information on one spreadsheet. This provides the requester with the same information in a more compact version that can be navigated through with more ease and efficiency. Requesters are also notified when requests will require MSHA to conduct the Exemption 4 process because that could impact the estimated completion date depending on how long it takes to receive a response. This allows the requester to determine if they would like to proceed with receiving these records or not. Clear and frequent communication with requesters and other FOIA coordinators is a very important practice to ensure MSHA’s FOIA system operates efficiently and effectively and is facilitated by MSHA’s FOIA officer monitoring of pending requests and weekly meetings with management to discuss upcoming FOIA issues and backlog. Additional status meetings have been held with individual program offices to answer any questions, ensure requests are handled timely, and identify any obstacles that may hinder the agency in meeting deadlines.
OALJ	OALJ’s FOIA Coordinator and processors contact requesters through FOIAXpress correspondence and phone calls to determine if there is a way to narrow the scope of the request due to the volume of records being requested.
OASAM	Within the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management, as multiple requests are received, liaisons reach out to the requester personally with regard to scope and need. This outreach may result in satisfying the requester by directing them to OASAM’S webpage, which has become a resource for both DOL and other federal agencies, the public, and the media for frequently requested information. The OASAM FOIA coordinator is often required to provide guidance to requesters on the proper procedures for submitting FOIA information requests. Regularly, OASAM receives requests for old documents that have been dispositioned and are no longer maintained by DOL, such as personnel related folders. When the request is received from lawyers or other third-party representatives, the response requires a full explanation of the process on transferring Official Personnel Files (OPFs) to other agencies, or facilities. After standardizing the response and providing clarification to numerous requests, the questions have greatly diminished the exchange between OASAM and the requester when a response of “no records” is provided. Requesters have been contacted via email concerning complex or voluminous requests to clarify the request or to narrow the scope. In addition, a request for employee information will include years that we do not maintain or for an extended amount of time which will create a response thousands of pages long.
OASP	OASP engages with the requestor community, in coordination with SOL/OIS, on a case-by-case basis when clarifying and finalizing various requests for coordinated or consolidated FOIA treatment.
OCFO	OCFO’s intra and internet websites are updated regularly with relevant reporting and an invitation to submit comments and questions. DOL-OCFO has been publishing and regularly updating its FOIA Logs on DOL.gov since 2020.
OCIA	When necessary, FOIA staff reach out requesters to discuss issues in relation to their requests.
ODEP	ODEP FOIA staff reach out to requesters to discuss issues in relation to their requests as appropriate.
OFCCP	OFCCP staff reach out requesters to discuss issues in relation to their requests as appropriate, for example, when one FOIA request included a general request for email communication with a particular large category of entities, OFCCP staff contacted the requester to obtain specific email domain names to clarify and ensure proper processing of the request.
OIG	The FOIA Office routinely conducts individual outreach and dialogue via email, mail, and phone with the requester community in order to manage the FOIA workload, which includes unusual and complex cases or where the response will be overdue because of the complexity and/or volume of material awaiting review. OIG has provided details about how information is maintained in order to help the requestors reframe the request so that a thorough search can be made for the responsive material. For example, requestors commonly seek the complete investigative file, which may involve a large volume of material. This office reaches out to requestors to consider narrowing the scope of the request to the investigative closing report, which might provide them with the most amount of condensed information that they are seeking. This dialogue has led to requestors’ better understanding of the volume and complexity of FOIA requests received by the OIG. Additionally, the OIG Disclosure Office staff often addresses FOIA requests from a first party requester who is interested in their own case file. The FOIA office offers to provide the requester with a copy of the report of investigation which contains the most relevant information about the case.
OLMS	OLMS’s extent of outreach and/or dialogue with the requester community or open government groups is comprised of access to extensive public information regarding our administration of the FOIA. We believe that our maintenance of this website contributes to the general public’s submission of proper and clear written FOIA requests that are made by the correct means. OLMS continually updates its Online Public Disclosure room with new records. Inquiries for these records may arrive outside of FOIA and are handled daily with timely responses to emails to our posted contact OLMS-Public@dol.gov. OLMS also discloses Agency determinations, FOIA Reports, compliance resource materials, and records of claims, landmark decisions, and rural transit grants related to its transit employee protections program. See https://www.dol.gov/agencies/olms
OPA	OPA FOIA staff reach out to requesters as appropriate to discuss scope and other issues in relation to requests.
OSEC	OSEC routinely issues notices to requesters to clarify requests, narrow the scope of requests and make still interested inquiries regarding older requests.
OSHA	The Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s requester community is highly diversified between media, individual requesters, unions and employers. OSHA does substantial outreach with individual requesters. Frequent requesters often call OSHA prior to filing their FOIA requests and OSHA works with them to structure the requests to keep fees, if any, low, and keep the processing time as short as possible.
OWCP	The Office of Workers Compensation Programs, DEEOIC held 10 Outreach Webinars with EEOICPA Stakeholders in which DEEOIC officials discussed EEOICPA related issues, including at least one Outreach Webinar presentation concerning DEEOIC’s new enhanced website, which, in part, addressed the Public Reading-room, i.e., Proactive Disclosure, and FOIA and Privacy Act request processing matters. Within OWPC, DEEOIC Management Officials routinely support and encourage the uploading/ng of DEEOIC policy guidance and other significant program documents to the DEEOIC website under the Public Reading‑Room or to other sections of the DEEOIC website in compliance with FOIA Section (a)(2) public inspection proactive disclosures.
SOL	The Solicitor of Labor is designated Chief FOIA Officer for the Department. Through delegation, the Director of the Office of Information Services represents the Department on FOIA matters in varying capacities, including attendance at Chief FOIA Officer Meetings, regular or recurring meetings of the managing partner's agencies for the National FOIA Portal and in other forums that require information regarding DOL's FOIA policies and protocols. The Office of the Solicitor is committed to FOIA outreach and is planning more engagement with external stakeholders. The agency has conducted listening sessions with both Management and Plaintiff Bars. In addition, SOL has created a new amicus referral mailbox for the public to reach out at: Amicusreferrals@dol.gov Additionally, the Department’s FOIA Public Liaison (who is housed within the Office of the Solicitor) reached out to several requesters on behalf of the Department and various agency components to discuss the scope on FOIA requests that required either consolidated or coordinated treatment due to either the volume or complexity of the requests.
VETS	Pursuant to FOIA Exemption 4 (Executive Order 12600), VETS conducts outreach to our non-government customers/clients when information they have submitted to the agency is the subject of a FOIA request our agency received. VETS is required to notify and solicit their feedback. VETS provide guidance and advice to our clients of their obligations under this order and the FOIA process as it relates to their information/data. VETS also conducts outreach to FOIA requesters in an effort to (1) offer the requester an opportunity to narrow the scope of their request; (2) seek clarification of their request; (3) provide details concerning the circumstance(s) that may prevent timely processing of their request; (4) advise requesters of how their FOIA requests could be consolidated or how they could reduce charged fees by altering their request; and (5) propose, recommend and/or negotiate an alternate time frame for processing the requester’s original FOIA and/or to modify it.
WB	The Women’s Bureau continued to ensure customer engagement through communications responsive to requesters that included follow-up emails and/or phone responses and FOIA-related guidance and information. WB also continued to maintain Web links to WB, DOL, and DOJ FOIA websites regarding FOIA policies and guidelines to ensure information is readily and publicly available on WB’s FOIA Webpage.
WHD	WHD FOIA professionals proactively contact requesters concerning complex or voluminous requests in an effort to clarify or narrow the scope of a request so requesters can receive response more quickly. Our office regularly asks requesters to narrow the scope of their requests to the Compliance Action Report (CAR) and case narrative of requests submitted for specific Wage and Hour Division investigative files. Our acknowledgement letter template includes language describing the Compliance Action Report and case narrative and asking them to consider narrowing the request to those documents to fast-track responses to their FOIA requests. Some requesters are receptive to narrowing their requests and the success rate is fairly high in those cases. In other cases, requesters will not narrow the scope of their requests and we move those requests to the complex track for action as they meet the criteria outlined for unusual circumstances. WHD may also refer requesters to the DOL FOIA Public Liaison when the WHD FOIA office and a requester cannot agree on a scope for a particular request, and final response letters contain notification to requesters about the services provided by the agency’s FOIA Public Liaison.

8. As part of the standard request process, do your FOIA professionals proactively contact requesters concerning complex or voluminous requests in an effort to clarify or narrow the scope of the request so requesters can receive responses more quickly?

Yes

Please describe any such outreach or dialogue, and, if applicable, any specific examples.

DOL FOIA Coordinators and contacts routinely reach out to requesters concerning complex or voluminous requests to clarify or narrow the scope of the request, so that requesters can receive responses more quickly. Some of these activities are described in the table above in response to Question

The following are some examples that demonstrate proactive contacts:

The Department's FOIA Public Liaison routinely reaches out to requesters on behalf of agencies that are engaged in "Consolidated" and "Coordinated" FOIA treatment while processing requests. Typically, the dialogue is focused on narrowing of scope and search terminology. However, there are other instances where clarity is sought in relation to other issues surrounding the request.
OFCCP is working on a FOIA request where email communication with a particular large category of entities was requested, without specifying email domain names. We contacted the requester to obtain the specific domain names to clarify and ensure proper processing of the request.
OSHA routinely works with media, educational, commercial and other requesters when the scope of the request covers records from multiple offices or copious amounts of records.

In November 2021, a reporter from the Columbia School of Journalism filed 46 FOIA requests for different OSHA inspections nationwide involving Dollar Tree. Through a series of ongoing and continuing engagements, OSHA worked with the reporter to refine the requests so that both OSHA and the reporter were not overwhelmed. One year later, all but one request has been closed.

9. The FOIA Improvement Act of 2016 requires additional notification to requesters about the services provided by the agency's FOIA Public Liaison. Please provide an estimate of the number of times requesters sought assistance from your agency's FOIA Public Liaison during Fiscal Year 2022 (please provide a total number or an estimate of the number).

2022 FOIA Liaison Inquiries
Number of inquiries (status/customer service/other)	630

2022 FOIA Liaison Inquiries

Number of inquiries

(status/customer service/other)

630

C. Other Initiatives

10. Has your agency evaluated the allocation of agency personnel resources needed to respond to current and anticipated FOIA demands? If so, please describe what changes your agency has or will implement.

The U.S. Department of Labor operates within a decentralized FOIA program. Although the administrative management of the program is within the Office of the Solicitor, each of its 23 agency components is responsible for determining and allocating agency personnel resources that are necessary in order to respond to their FOIA demands. The Department currently has a "ROAD" detail program where employees have an opportunity to cross over from their respective agencies and for a specified amount of time, they can work within other DOL agency components to gain experience, knowledge and training to enhance their career paths. This program has been utilized by a number of components in an effort to gain additional FTE resources that would not otherwise be available to meet their FOIA demands.

11. How does your agency use data or processing metrics to ensure efficient management of your FOIA workload? For example, case management reports, staff processing statistics, etc. In addition, please specifically highlight any data analysis methods or technologies used.

The Department has incorporated FOIA related milestones and process measures within the Departmental Financial and Administrative Scorecard as well as the SOL specific Agency Management Plan. That data is tracked and analyzed each quarter so that it can be reported within the Agency to promote awareness regarding how quickly DOL processes FOIA requests within its three processing queues and its efforts toward backlog reduction goals. In addition, agency components are encouraged to perform self-audits within FOIAXpress by generating customized reports that include backlog and annual report data. Examples of such data and report use are provided below.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires all national and regional offices to review their backlogs every two weeks and report that backlog to the National Office FOIA Coordinator in their Office of Communications. The OSHA Office of Communications routinely runs fee and backlog reports and discusses any issues of concern with the appropriate action office.

The Wage and Hour Division uses data and processing metrics to ensure efficient management of the FOIA workload. FOIAXpress reports are reviewed twice weekly to manage the incoming requests, closed requests and backlog count. Using these reports in general provides a macro-level view of the program overall. WHD also utilizes several specialized reports available through FOIAXpress to monitor the activity and productivity of individual analysts assigned case files in the system. These additional reports provide office management a micro-level view of analyst productivity and workload to address shortfalls and potential areas where re-balancing of the workload is necessary to ensure that maximum effort is deployed in responding to FOIA requests.

The Office of the Solicitor (SOL) serves as another example. The agency Lead FOIA Coordinator utilizes the FOIAXpress reports feature to run various customized reports in an effort to assess the FOIA backlog; make determinations regarding the effectiveness and efficiency of SOL's FOIA program and brief leadership.

In MSHA, internal tracking logs that track FOIA requests from start to finish, including those that are processed by more than 1 office, help keep the processing of requests organized. MSHA conducts quarterly and annual certification data reviews of the FOIA database to ensure that all FOIA information has been entered, properly coded, all letters and correspondence have been uploaded, tolls are entered and closed correctly, and once completed all requests were properly closed out in the system.

FOIA Processing Measures

Measure	Quarterly Projection
Percentage of FOIA "Simple" Requests Processed On-Time	85%
Percentage of FOIA "Complex" Requests Processed On-Time	70%
Percentage of FOIA "Expedited" Requests Processed On-Time	80%
Number of Backlogged FOIA Requests Pending	20%

12. Optional -- If there are any other initiatives undertaken by your agency to ensure fair and effective FOIA administration, please describe them here.

SECTION III: PROACTIVE DISCLOSURES

The Attorney General's FOIA Guidelines emphasize that "proactive disclosure of information is . . . fundamental to the faithful application of the FOIA."; The Guidelines direct agencies to post "records online quickly and systematically in advance of any public request" and reiterate that agencies should post records "in the most useful, searchable, and open formats possible."

1. Please describe what steps your agency takes to identify, track, and post (a)(2) proactive disclosures.

Examples are provided in the table below.

2. Provide examples of any material that your agency has proactively disclosed during the past reporting year, including records that have been requested and released three or more times in accordance with 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(2)(D). Please include links to these materials as well.

Agency Component	Proactive Disclosures	Links to Proactive Disclosures
BLS	The agency posts FOIA logs on the BLS public website. This is updated every quarter. BLS measures labor market activity, working conditions, price changes, and productivity in the U.S. economy to support public and private decision making. The BLS is the principal fact-finding agency for the Federal Government in the broad field of labor economics and statistics. BLS is an independent national statistical agency within the Department of Labor that collects, processes, analyzes, and disseminates essential statistical data to the American public, Congress, other Federal agencies, State and local governments, business, and labor. The BLS provides economic releases and high-level data related to these topics on the public-facing website. BLS is committed to providing a high level of customer service. BLS staff of experts quickly and efficiently answer questions from the public. At the top of every webpage, you’ll find a link to the contact us page. The “contact us” page includes phone numbers, email, and physical addresses for national and regional statistical and information staffs. As a Federal statistical agency, BLS conducts work in an open environment. Major changes in program design, scope, or methods are discussed in advance with users and advisory committees and described in published materials. Fair information practices are used, such as maintaining the confidentiality of individual responses. Confidentiality of the information that respondents furnish is assured by protecting the microdata, combining the data reported, and issuing the findings in summary tables, analyses, and reports. BLS values cooperation with data users and consults with a broad spectrum of users of its data in order to make its products more useful. As part of the BLS customer pledge to the public, the Bureau promises to help users understand the uses and limitation of the data. Most of the data on information quality and methodology are available in both print and electronic form to assist the broad range of users. The BLS Data Tools main page can be found here: https://www.bls.gov/data/tools.htm	https://www.bls.gov/bls/blsfoia.htm https://www.bls.gov/data/tools.htm
EBSA	EBSA’s dynamic website is updated regularly with new and updated materials. See EBSA’s homepage https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ebsa and note the useful “EBSA at a Glance” section, where EBSA posts new issuances and related materials to make it quick and easy to find. EBSA also added a dedicated COVID-19 response page in the quick links on the homepage to provide an easy to find comprehensive page with all information EBSA has issued to provide quick assistance to workers and employers during the pandemic. This includes links to outreach that is conducted. EBSA’s FOIA page is at https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ebsa/about-ebsa/our-activities/public-disclosure/foia. Proactive disclosures such as key rulemaking and their public comments are timely posted on EBSA’s Website. EBSA’s public comments index page is at https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ebsa/laws-and-regulations/rules-and-regulations/public-comments. Other proactive disclosures such as EBSA’s FOIA reading room and Critical status notices are available at https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ebsa/about-ebsa/our-activities/public-disclosure/foia/electronic, and https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ebsa/about-ebsa/our-activities/public-disclosure/critical-status-notices. Two new laws were enacted this year with related new information, guidance and rulemaking issued. EBSA quickly set up dedicated web pages for both laws (American Rescue Plan and No Surprises Act) to make the related information easy to find for those looking to understand the new provisions. EBSA added a dedicated page for the COBRA premium assistance under the American Rescue Plan Act that was easily accessible from the hero image at the top of the EBSA Homepage as well as linked on the COVID-19 response page. The dedicated page provided plain language information for workers and employers describing how the subsidy worked and resources. Information was provided in 11 languages in addition to English.	https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ebsa https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ebsa/about-ebsa/our-activities/public-disclosure/foia https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ebsa/laws-and-regulations/rules-and-regulations/public-comments. https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ebsa/about-ebsa/our-activities/public-disclosure/foia/electronic https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ebsa/about-ebsa/our-activities/public-disclosure/critical-status-notices https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ebsa/laws-and-regulations/laws/cobra
ETA	In advance of FOIA requests, the ETA Office of Foreign Labor Certification publishes a variety of data and information quarterly at https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/foreign-labor/performance OFLC also proactively releases redacted versions of employer applications, performance data, and annual statistics for labor certifications and labor condition applications in advance of FOIA requests. These proactive releases assure the application of openness. The Office of Foreign Labor Certification also publishes redacted copies of employer job orders at https://flag.dol.gov The Office of Trade Adjustment Assistance publishes TAA petitions at: https://www.doleta.gov/tradeact/taa/petitions.cfm. The Office of Unemployment Insurance publishes information of interest to the public on its website at https://oui.doleta.gov/unemploy/performance.asp. OUI regularly updates many of its data pages providing not only a cleaner look but also a more user-friendly layout and less “drilling down”. The Office of Workforce Investment (OWI) publishes WOTC certification data on https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/wotc/performance. The Office of Policy Development and Research (OPDR) has updated the research and evaluation website to post all new reports at https://wdr.doleta.gov/research/search.cfm?CFID=44789344&CFTOKEN=79473204 ETA/Office of Apprenticeship posts five years of Registered Apprenticeship national program data and statistics on its website (accessible by the public at https://doleta.gov/oa/data_statistics.cfm). General program information and information regarding current sponsors of apprenticeship is also housed on the site. ETA/Office of Financial Administration (OFA) discloses budget information, State Statutory Formula Funding, Quarterly State WIOA Spending Summaries, Annual State WIOA Obligation Summaries, WIOA Spending, and Obligation Rate Visualizations on its website at http://www.doleta.gov/budget/. The Office of Job Corps publishes an extensive array of information and performance data at https://www.jobcorps.gov/job-corps-reports; ETA/OJC program promotional material refers interested public to the Job Corps website, https://www.jobcorps.gov/, which provides a link https://www.jobcorps.gov/freedom to a full page of FOIA information, including instructions for submitting a FOIA request. ETA Advisories are emailed upon posting to the impacted stakeholder community. Examples are available at https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/reports that takes user to a doleta link. All distributed information is 508 compliant and websites are routinely monitored and updated.	https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/foreign-labor/performance https://www.foreignlaborcert.doleta.gov/performancedata.cfm https://flag.dol.gov https://www.doleta.gov/tradeact/taa/petitions.cfm https://oui.doleta.gov/unemploy/performance.asp https://oui.doleta.gov/unemploy/DataDashboard.asp https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/wotc/performance https://wdr.doleta.gov/research/search.cfm?CFID=44789344&CFTOKEN=79473204 https://doleta.gov/oa/data_statistics.cfm) http://www.doleta.gov/budget/ https://www.jobcorps.gov/job-corps-reports https://www.jobcorps.gov/ https://www.jobcorps.gov/freedom https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/reports
MSHA	MSHA has proactively disclosed accident investigation information, program policy and procedure instruction letters, program or enforcement statistics, inspection and violation history, mine data, accountability audits, safety and health legislation and regulations. MSHA has updated its online database, the Mine Data Retrieval System (MDRS), to make it more user friendly with publicly available datasets that the public may download. The datasets are .txt files that are available for download and updated every Friday to ensure the most up-to-date data is available. MSHA’s Mine Data Retrieval System (MDRS) is located at https://www.msha.gov/mine-data-retrieval-system. MSHA collaborates with offices both within and out of the agency to identify and produce a greater number of appropriate materials for proactive disclosures. These offices include the Office of the Assistant Secretary, records management staff, IT staff, Public Affairs, and the Office of Program Education and Outreach. Working with these offices enables MSHA to identify material that is of interest to the public, as well as determine the best method of disclosure to the public. The ability to outreach and work with a multitude of resources enables the agency to increase proactive disclosures both in quantity and quality. MSHA received multiple FOIA requests for information regarding a fatal mining accident. This information was placed on the MSHA FOIA website at the following link: https://www.msha.gov/data-reports/fatality-reports/search.	https://arlweb.msha.gov/READROOM/HANDBOOK/HANDBOOK.HTM https://arlweb.msha.gov/REGS/COMPLIAN/PIB/PIB.HTM https://arlweb.msha.gov/REGS/COMPLIAN/PILS/PIL.HTM https://www.msha.gov/regulations/rulemaking/petitions-modification https://arlweb.msha.gov/REGS/COMPLIAN/PPM/PMMAINTC.HTM https://arlweb.msha.gov/REGS/COMPLIAN/PPLMEN.HTM https://arlweb.msha.gov/readroom/FOIA/AccountabilityAudits/AccountabilityAudits.asp https://www.msha.gov/data-reports/fatality-reports/search
OALJ	The OALJ FOIA Coordinator, in conjunction with other FOIA personnel, identifies (a)(2) proactive disclosures and works with our website content managers to post these on one of our proactive disclosure pages. The Office of the Administrative Law Judges (OALJ) publishes bench books and research materials related to each of its main program areas on its website, https://www.dol.gov/agencies/oalj/ OALJ FOIA staff collaborate with our website content managers to get proactive disclosure documents posted on the website. FOIA personnel are responsible for providing the content managers the documents to be posted and ensuring that these documents are suitable for public release, which may necessitate inputting redactions. OALJ has posted pleadings and other documents in two high profile cases (Graham v. Credit Suisse Securities; OFCCP v. Oracle) Documents about ALJ appointments have also been posted.	https://www.dol.gov/agencies/oalj/ https://www.oalj.dol.gov/FOIA_Frequently_Requested_Records.htm https://www.oalj.dol.gov/Proactive_disclosures_ALJ_appointments.html
OASAM	OASAM Centers with webpages work constantly to maintain up-to-date information on their sites. We work collaboratively to ensure all language is uniform and accurate. We value our users’ comments and are open to new ideas that will improve our service delivery and access to public information. In addition to links for external agency sites and internal DOL sites, background information is provided so that requesters understand why they are being redirected and not receiving the requested report(s) from DOL. An understanding of the process and/or agencies involved is proving helpful. OASAM ensures that all information posted is 508 compliant. While OASAM receives many requests for employment information, most of the requests are for information not maintained by the Department of Labor but rather by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). Because of this, some of the DOL links can be found on several OPM reporting sites, as well as OASAM’s FOIA webpage.	https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/diversity-and-inclusion/reports/#url=Federal-Equal-Opportunity-and-Recruitment-Program https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/diversity-and-inclusion/reports/#url=Employment-Statistical-Reports https://www.dol.gov/agencies/oasam/hrc/foia
OCFO	DOL-OCFO posts financial, audit, performance, strategic, and performance reporting data on the dol.gov website DOL-OCFO also posts its FOIA log. OCFO FOIA LOG: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ocfo/foia	https://www.dol.gov/general/aboutdol#budget https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ocfo/foia
ODEP	ODEP, through its Division of Policy Communication and Outreach, regularly updates its website to provide the most relevant and current information to stakeholders. For example, ODEP currently features a dedicated landing page with materials regarding the recently completed National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM). ODEP also includes specific landing pages for popular initiatives such as the State Exchange on Employment & Disability and the Retaining Employment and Talent after Injury/Illness Network. In addition, the website provides weekly updates and news briefs. https://www.dol.gov/agencies/odep	https://www.dol.gov/agencies/odep
OFCCP	OFCCP posts FAQs, technical assistance guides and other stakeholder resources on its major DOL.gov webpage. OFCCP posts its Conciliation Agreements in its FOIA Reading Room. Conciliation Agreements are formal agreements signed by OFCCP and the federal contractors’ top officials, which outline all identified violations, and require the contractors to implement specific remedies and formally report to the OFCCP for a specified period of time. OFCCP also posts datasets covering its projected case scheduling and historical performance information on enforcement in its FOIA Library.	https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ofccp https://www.dol.gov/ofccp/foia/foiareadingroom/index.html
OIG	Each of the OIG component areas routinely identify emerging issues such as notable investigations, audits, alerts and upcoming audit projects and they are posted to the OIG website. The website information is routinely maintained and updated by the OIG staff. The DOL OIG continues to post audit reports, recommendations dashboard, alert memos, and investigative summaries on the agency website. All such documents can be found under the tab for “Publications & Reports” on the OIG’s website The OIG FOIA office has collaborated with the Office of Audit to review an audit report for pre-publication release. The purpose is to identify to any portions of the report that might be FOIA exempt. The OIG FOIA office has also collaborated upon request with the Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs (OCIA) in their efforts to share legally releasable information in mutual cooperation with Congress. OIG also created a Pandemic Response portal that contains the Pandemic Response work of the DOL OIG to include a host of information such as Covid related audits and investigations and reports. This portal is located on both the OIG website and the OIG FOIA site.	https://www.oig.dol.gov/ https://www.oig.dol.gov//recommendationdashboard.htm https://www.oig.dol.gov/OIG_Pandemic_Response_Portal.htm
OLMS	OLMS continually provides proactive disclosures and updates its public-facing website to add new releases. These records are related to OLMS’s administration and enforcement of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (LMRDA). The records include Trusteeship Case Decisions; Transit Employee Protection Decisions; OLMS Director and Assistant Secretary Decisions and Orders; Form LM-2 Hardship Determinations; and Frequently Requested Reports (CAP Closing Letters, I-CAP Closing Letters, OLMS Historical Enforcement Data, OLMS Annual Reports), and Statutory Program’s Certification Determinations and Claims Decisions made pursuant to 49 U.S.C § 5333(b).	https://www.dol.gov/agencies/olms/public-disclosure-room
OSEC	OSEC has posted calendars and travel itineraries for agency leadership to the dol.gov website for the ease of providing a quick response to requestors. The information is updated on a periodic basis.	https://www.dol.gov/general/foia/osec
OSHA	OSHA posted COVID complaint information about specific establishments and respondents for both safety and health as well as whistleblower programs through the summer of 2022. OSHA continues to post cumulative data about the number of incoming safety and health and whistleblower complaints on a monthly basis… Data & Statistics \| Occupational Safety and Health Administration (osha.gov) Finally, OSHA has published a list of COVID-19 related inspections including establishment and violation data through FY2022. Inspections with COVID-19 related Violations \| Occupational Safety and Health Administration (osha.gov). This data has been especially helpful for media and academic requesters.	https://www.osha.gov/FOIA https://www.osha.gov/data
OWCP	During FY 2022, the OWCP Division of Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation (DEEOIC) proactively disclosed and posted records on the DEEOIC Public Reading-room webpage, which include: EEOICPA Actuarial Report – EEOICPA Estimate of Liabilities DEEOIC’s Response to DOL Ombudsman’s Report; and EEOICP Summary Statistics, on a monthly basis. Beyond posting previously requested types of records to the DEEOIC Public Reading-room, DEEOIC uploads other important DEEOIC-EEOICPA materials to other sections of the DEEOIC website that are helpful to EEOICPA Stakeholders, such as the most current updated Federal EEOICPA Procedure Manual and EEOICPA Final Bulletins and EEOICPA Final Circulars, under EEOICPA Laws and Internal Procedures \| U.S. Department of Labor (dol.gov) and DEEOIC Outreach Webinar materials, under Past Events \| U.S. Department of Labor (dol.gov).	https://www.dol.gov/agencies/owcp/energy/regs/compliance/efoia
SOL	The Office of the Solicitor has an on-line “Brief Bank” in which several legal briefs and opinions were posted during FY 2022.	www.dol.gov/agencies/sol/briefs
WHD	WHD proactively posts a host of agency documents on its publicly available website such as Field Assistance Bulletins and Federal Register documents. Please note the following documents: Field Operation Handbook Chapters 10-16, 20-25, 30-33, 36, 39, 46, 64, Field Assistant Bulletins Purchase Card Holders Federal Register Documents Opinion Letters WHD has posted two new documents online during the reporting period: 2022-4 - Enforcement of the Rehabilitation Act Section 511 Requirements for Workers with Disabilities in the Section 14(c) Program June 16, 2022. 2022-3 - Employment of H-2B workers in a Job Classification not Listed on the TEC Application (Form ETA-9142B) in the H-2B Visa Program April 13, 2022	https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/field-operations-handbook https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/field-assistance-bulletins https://www.dol.gov/agencies/oasam/grants/credit-card-officials https://federalregister.dol.gov/index.php/index/agency https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/opinion-letters/search https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/WHD/fab/2022-4.pdf https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/WHD/fab/2022-3.pdf

3. Beyond posting new material, is your agency taking steps to make the posted information more useful to the public, especially to the community of individuals who regularly access your agency's website?

Yes

4. If yes, please provide examples of such improvements. In particular, please describe steps your agency is taking to post information in open, machine-readable, and machine-actionable formats, to the extent feasible. If not posting in open formats, please explain why and note any challenges.

DOL is committed to providing information and data in formats that most people can use. Many of the documents that are posted on the public facing site are in the Portable Document Format (PDF). The most frequently requested documents are U.S. Department of Labor forms. You can complete some forms online. There are some forms that require downloading and printing in order to complete them. There are also public data files posted in EXCEL and CSV formats.

The agency is also committed to providing access to all individuals who are seeking information from our website. To provide this information, the DOL website has been designed to comply with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) contracted with a vendor to help with 508 remediation of documents. In FY22, the company assisted in remediating various documents for program staff. Company officials also developed training for OSHA staff on creating accessible documents. OSHA created or updated 3,812 webpages in fiscal year 2022. OSHA posts most webpages in 508 compliant format and updates older pages. OSHA makes nearly 50 publications a year in machine-readable format that is 508 compliant:

20–1 - https://www.osha.gov/publications/publication-products?publication_title=2021

20–2 - https://www.osha.gov/publications/publication-products?publication_title=2022

Similarly, SOL has taken steps to ensure briefs posted in the previously referenced brief bank are 508 compliant.

5. Does your proactive disclosure process or system involve any collaboration with agency staff outside the FOIA office, such as IT or data personnel? If so, describe this interaction.

Yes. The U.S. Department of Labor website is managed by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management – Office of the Chief Information Officer (OASAM-OCIO). All modifications to internal and public facing pages must be approved and implemented by that office. This means that FOIA Service Center staff must collaborate with that office in order to post proactive disclosures and make changes to their FOIA pages.

6. Optional -- Please describe the best practices used to improve proactive disclosures and any challenges your agency faces in this area.

SECTION IV: STEPS TAKE TO GREATER UTILIZE TECHNOLOGY

A key component of FOIA administration is using technology to make information available to the public and to gain efficiency in FOIA processing. The Attorney General's FOIA Guidelines emphasize the importance of making FOIA websites easily navigable and complying with the FOIA.gov interoperability requirements. Please answer the following questions to describe how your agency is using technology to improve its FOIA administration and the public's access to information.

1. Has your agency reviewed its FOIA-related technological capabilities to identify resources needed to respond to current and anticipated FOIA demands?

Yes. Since 2019, the Department has been engaged in a FOIA Modernization Project that included the procurement and installation of FOIAXpress, in order to provide a robust and reliable FOIA case management system, with better data reporting and technology tools.

2. Please briefly describe any new types of technology your agency began using during the reporting period to support your FOIA program.

Agency Component	Steps Taken to Greater Utilize Technology
Adj Bds	The Boards continue to use FOIAXpress which is the Department’s new FOIA case management system.
BLS	BLS uses FOIAXpress to process requests. BLS has used FOIAXpress for redactions instead of Adobe Acrobat. The agency also continued to utilize shared directories with our program offices for the collection and review of records to ensure receipt of all responsive records directly and improve communication regarding responsive records within BLS. The agency also uses a shared directory and electronic sign-off system for review and signature of FOIA responses and any responsive records by our FOIA Disclosure Officer.
EBSA	EBSA continues to utilize FOIAXpress for processing FOIA requests. The National and Regional FOIA staff continue to use a common drive to share FOIA records between EBSA offices for redaction purposes. EBSA routinely uses cloud-based secure file sharing technology including with requestors to reduce the response times associated with the receipt of postal mail.
ETA	The Employment and Training Administration FOIA staff is utilizing FOIAXpress for request processing and is exploring new redaction features such as find and redact and electronic document review. Due to the volume of responsive documents, ETA started using the Kiteworks file transfer application to transmit and deliver documents exceeding the 250mb capability of FOIAXpress.
ILAB	ILAB utilizes FOIAXpress which has been most beneficial in assisting in answering and keeping track of all requests, reports and closures and letters. This new technology has allowed FOIA requests to be answered in a more efficient manner. The new technology can also assist in drafting response letters and looking back on previous FOIA request responses that are similar. The agency currently uses FOIA Xpress, file transfer program Accellion, e-discovery, shared folders, and zip files to answer and track all requests. FOIAXpress makes it easier to create correspondence and send to requesters and staff immediately once the responses are written. Additionally, ILAB utilizes Adobe Acrobat Pro for electronic redactions as well as electronic letterhead to send official letters.
MSHA	MSHA utilizes Adobe Auto Portfolio for the deduplication of emails, Adobe Creative Cloud Premiere to redact photos and videos, including their audio tracks, and Kiteworks file transfer application to securely distribute large volumes of documents to FOIA requesters. MSHA also utilizes databases MCAS and MSIS to conduct searches for responsive records related to data. We estimate that using these products has reduced our processing time by at least 50%. In addition, MSHA’s FOIA Coordinators used a shared drive to share standardized letters, responsive records for consultation, and excel spreadsheets to track overdue requests. Sharing files facilitates efficiency by organizing files and making them easier to access. MSHA’s FOIA Officer consults with OCIO to conduct complex email searches.
OALJ	OALJ has reviewed its technological capabilities. The agency is currently using Adobe and FOIAXpress for FOIA processing.
OASAM	OASAM’s OCIO has developed the ESI program to efficiently search for and deliver data as requested by requestors. ESI searches both DOL’s Cloud and network. Cloud based searches consist of e-mail and other cloud-based data. These searches are executed using e-discovery tools within Microsoft Office 365. Other searches of physical machines and other network storage are executed via the use of DT search software.
OASP	The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy continues to utilize the FOIAXpress Case Management System for processing FOIA requests.
OCFO	The Office of the Chief Financial Officer utilizes the FOIAXpress case management system for processing FOIA requests.
OCIA	OCIA is using the Department’s new FOIAXpress system for FOIA case management. Adobe Acrobat is also used by the agency.
ODEP	Due to ODEP’s low volume of incoming FOIA requests, the agency finds that FOIAXpress is a sufficient method in which to manage the requests received each year.
OFCCP	OFCCP uses FOIAXpress, SharePoint and Adobe Acrobat to facilitate the processing of its requests. OFCCP continued its implementation of its Compliance Management System, expected to facilitate records search and retrieval.
OIG	The Office of the Inspector General recently completed its migration to a new FOIA tracking system in response to the need to modernize the OIG FOIA program yet maintain an independent instance of the same FOIA system used by the Department. This will provide an efficient means of providing the same reporting formats to the Department without compromising the OIG’s independence in its FOIA system. The new system will afford the collection of more types of data reporting as well as storing correspondence and producing reports.
OLMS	OLMS FOIA personnel continue to use FOIAXpress as its FOIA case management system. The agency also updates and maintains an online feedback tool to the public regarding any information listed on the website, this includes the OLMS Online FOIA Reading Room.
OPA	The Office of Public Affairs utilizes email, E-Discovery, OCIO ESI Online Search, key word searches, Kiteworks file transfer application, Deloitte Relativity and FOIAXpress.
OSEC	OSEC is currently utilizing the Department’s FOIAXpress case management system. The agency also conducts some searches via ESI E-Discovery tool for electronic searches and Adobe Acrobat software for redactions.
OSHA	OSHA has begun the use of Kiteworks to transmit large FOIA files to requesters and thus minimize the need to use physical media for record delivery. OSHA has purchased new Adobe software to assist in processing emails.
OWCP	The Office of Workers Compensation Programs utilizes FOIAXpress to process FOIA requests received by the agency. DEEOIC within the National Office, has implemented the use of SharePoint for all our DEEOIC FOIA request processing. DEEOIC utilizes a SharePoint share-drive for the gathering of responsive records and the review of un‑redacted and redacted responsive records in relation to FOIA requests. This allows DEEOIC officials and staff members to upload responsive emails and other records to an electronic FOIA request record central location. Through the use of a SharePoint-shared-drive, others can view the responsive records that have already been located. Uploading responsive emails and other records to SharePoint reduces the number of duplicative records and search time for others. Additionally, the DEEOIC National Office utilizes SharePoint to review draft FOIA request correspondence letters and final response determinations, which has resulted in a time-efficient clearance-review process to finalize responses to FOIA requests. The DEEOIC National Office utilizes Adobe Acrobat software for electronic redactions of protected sensitive information, exempt under the FOIA statutory exemptions. The office also uses Adobe Acrobat software for digital signatures, which is especially significant during extended periods of pandemic teleworking. In addition, DEEOIC FOIA personnel communicate with FOIA requesters, via email, using the DOL Outlook Email System, and by telephone, utilizing the Interaction Desktop telephone Soft-Phone (SIP) software.
SOL	The Office of the Solicitor utilizes various technologies to perform FOIA related duties within the agency. The Office of the Solicitor serves as the Business Owner of FOIAXpress, the Department’s FOIA case management system, used by all FOIA components. SOL also facilitates the use of Kiteworks for the transmission of large case files and electronic documents. Adobe Acrobat is widely used by SOL for document sanitation and redaction methodology. In some instances, with the assistance of OASAM-OCIO, SOL uses the ESI E-Discovery tool to search for documents located on the DOL network.
VETS	VETS is currently using the following technology: FOIAXpress VCMS using Appian software VETS’ goal is to make as much information publicly available as possible, seeking to use VCMS reporting capability to generate reports quickly and efficiently making them publicly available without violating Privacy Act provisions.
WB	WB utilized the DOL FOIAXpress System to effectively and efficiently manage its FOIA program. The FOIAXpress System provided improved technology features, enhanced FOIA Tracking functionality, workflow processes, reporting capabilities, ability to communicate with requesters directly, record redaction, and fee processing in a more comprehensive and efficient manner. WB also used technology that include MS Word, Outlook, and FOIAXpress, etc. to efficiently manage and process FOIA requests, conduct electronic email searches, track data, and complete quarterly and annual agency and departmental reporting.
WHD	WHD staff utilizes the following electronic mechanisms for FOIA processing: FOIAXpress; Relativity; Electronic Document Review within FOIAXpress; and Kiteworks for large file transfers.

3. Does your agency currently use any technology to automate record processing? For example, does your agency use machine learning, predictive coding, technology assisted review or similar tools to conduct searches or make redactions? If so, please describe and, if possible, estimate how much time and financial resources are saved since implementing the technology.

Yes.

DOL utilizes the FOIAXpress case management system as its sole source for data and processing FOIA requests. The system contains the functionality that allows for technology assisted review of documents and has the capability to conduct searches, de-dupe, as well as make redactions and store responsive documents.

As part of the IT Modernization Project, the OASAM - Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) developed the Electronically Stored Information (ESI) E-Discovery request system to more efficiently search for agency records.

The Wage and Hour Division has invested in providing each FOIA professional with a copy of Adobe Professional. This software allows for the use of optical character recognition (OCR) to assist in reviewing documents provided to the analysts for review. However, because of the nature of the documents, the utility of this feature is somewhat limited. Typically, our records contain very few repetitive items requiring redaction, so the utility of using this feature outside of FOIAXpress for redactions is limited. It does assist in locating or ensuring that items are not missed in a review of the record set.

4. OIP issued guidance in 2017 encouraging agencies to regularly review their FOIA websites to ensure that they contain essential resources and are informative and user-friendly. Has your agency reviewed its FOIA website(s) during the reporting period to ensure it addresses the elements noted in the guidance?

Yes. All DOL agency components are advised to routinely monitor their individual FOIA pages to ensure that they contain essential resources that are informative and user-friendly. Quarterly DOL FOIA Coordinator briefings serve as an added opportunity for the Office of Information Services to remind FOIA professionals to review their FOIA pages.

Many examples of website reviews, updates and postings are included in descriptions of DOL FOIA components proactive disclosures found in Section III(2). For example, OLMS updates and maintains an online feedback tool for the public regarding any information listed on the website, this includes the OLMS Online FOIA Reading Room.

5. Did all four of your agency's quarterly reports for Fiscal Year 2022 appear on FOIA.gov?

Yes. https://www.dol.gov/general/foia/reports/quarterly

6. If your agency did not successfully post all quarterly reports on FOIA.gov, please explain why and provide your agency's plan for ensuring that such reporting is successful in Fiscal Year 2023.

N/A

7. The FOIA Improvement Act of 2016 requires all agencies to post the raw statistical data used to compile their Annual FOIA Reports. Please provide the link to this posting for your agency's Fiscal Year 2021 Annual FOIA Report and, if available, for your agency's Fiscal Year 2022 Annual FOIA Report.

https://www.dol.gov/general/foia/reports/annual

8. In February 2019, DOJ and OMB issued joint Guidance establishing interoperability standards to receive requests from the National FOIA Portal on FOIA.gov. Are all components of your agency in compliance with the guidance?

Yes.

9. Optional -- Please describe the best practices used in greater utilizing technology and any challenges your agency faces in this area.

SECTION V: STEPS TAKEN TO REMOVE BARRIERS TO ACCESS, IMPROVE TIMELINESS IN RESPONDING TO REQUESTS, AND REDUCE BACKLOGS

The Attorney General's FOIA Guidelines instruct agencies "to remove barriers to requesting and accessing government records and to reduce FOIA processing backlogs." Please answer the following questions to describe how your agency is removing barriers to access, improving timeliness in responding to requests, and reducing FOIA backlogs.

A. Remove Barriers to Access

1. Has your agency established alternative means of access to first-party requested records outside of the FOIA process?

There is no Department-wide uniform policy with respect to how individual agency components provide access to first-party requested records outside of the FOIA process.

2. If yes, please provide examples. If no, please indicate why not. Please also indicate if you do not know.

B. Timeliness

3. For Fiscal Year 2022, what was the average number of days your agency reported for adjudicating requests for expedited processing? Please see Section VIII.A. of your agency's Fiscal Year 2022 Annual FOIA Report.

FY 2022 - Requests for Expedited Processing

Average Number of Days to Adjudicate
DOL TOTAL	39.6

4. If your agency's average number of days to adjudicate requests for expedited processing was above ten calendar days, according to Section VIII.A. of your agency's Fiscal Year 2022 Annual FOIA Report, please describe the steps your agency will take to ensure that requests for expedited processing are adjudicated within ten calendar days or less.

The agency has taken the opportunity to highlight the importance of adjudicating timely requests for expediting processing by conducting a FOIA Overview training session at the DOL Virtual FOIA Training Conference that was held in May 2022. Also, during Quarterly FOIA Coordinators meetings conducted by the Office of Information Services, agency FOIA staff was briefed on various internal FOIA processing measures and metrics that included timeliness with respect to expedited processing.

5. Does your agency utilize a separate track for simple requests?

Yes

6. If your agency uses a separate track for simple requests, according to Annual FOIA Report section VII.A, was the agency overall average number of days to process simple requests twenty working days or fewer in Fiscal Year 2022?

7. If not, did the simple track average processing time decrease compared to the previous Fiscal Year?

Yes

8. Please provide the percentage of requests processed by your agency in Fiscal Year 2022 that were placed in your simple track. Please use the following calculation based on the data from your Annual FOIA Report: (processed simple requests from Section VII.C.1) divided by (requests processed from Section n V.A.) x 100.

Simple Requests – FY 2022

	Number of Simple Requests Processed	Average Number of Days	Total Number of Requests Processed	Percentage of Total Requests
DOL OVERALL	7,019	79.07	14,355	49.16%

9. If your agency does not track simple requests separately, was the average number of days to process all non-expedited requests twenty working days or fewer? N/A

C. Backlogs

BACKLOGGED REQUESTS

10. If your agency had a backlog of requests at the close of Fiscal Year 2022, according to Annual FOIA Report Section XII.D.2, did that backlog decrease as compared with the backlog reported at the end of Fiscal Year 2021?

Fiscal Year	Number of Backlogged FOIA Requests
2021	1,212
2022	1,426

11. If not, according to Annual FOIA Report Section XII.D.1, did your agency process more requests during Fiscal Year 2022 than it did during Fiscal Year 2021?

Yes

12. If your agency's request backlog increased during Fiscal Year 2022, please explain why and describe the causes that contributed to your agency not being able to reduce its backlog. When doing so, please also indicate if any of the following were contributing factors:

An increase in the number of incoming requests
A loss of staff
An increase in the complexity of the requests received (if possible, please provide examples or briefly describe the types of complex requests contributing to your backlog increase)
Impact of COVID-19 and workplace and safety precautions
Any other reasons – please briefly describe or provide examples when possible

At the end of FY 2022, the Department's total number of backlogged initial FOIA requests increased by 214 requests, in comparison to the total volume of over 14,000 incoming and processed requests (14,491 and 14,335 respectively). Even though our backlog grew, DOL was able to process 313 more FOIA requests in FY2022 than in FY2021. In FY2022, many DOL agency components reported an increase in the number of FOIA requests seeking access to voluminous amounts of electronic data, including emails. Even searches for FOIA requests that appeared on their face to be simple in nature required agencies to negotiate over search terms and leverage e-discovery tools to search for responsive records among emails and other electronic records platforms. Additionally, electronic searches produced records that required deduplication, the identification and coordination of reviews for sensitive equities and other unique processing issues that extended processing time frames. All of these factors impacted the Department's ability to timely respond to some requests and limited additional resources that could have been used solely for the purposes of targeting the Department's oldest pending requests. In addition, there were a small number of requests with litigation equities that could not be closed because litigation was ongoing.

13. If you had a request backlog, please report the percentage of requests that make up the backlog out of the total number of requests received by your agency in Fiscal Year 2022. Please use the following calculation based on data from your Annual FOIA Report: (backlogged requests from Section XII.A) divided by (requests received from Section V.A) x 100. This number can be greater than 100%. If your agency has no request backlog, please answer with "N/A."

2022 Backlog Percentage Chart

	Total Number of Requests Received	Total Number of Backlog at End of FY 2022	Percentage of Total Requests
DOL OVERALL	14,491	1,426	10%

BACKLOGGED APPEALS

14. If your agency had a backlog of appeals at the close of Fiscal Year 2022, according to Section XII.E.2 of the Annual FOIA Report, did that backlog decrease as compared with the backlog reported at the end of Fiscal Year 2021?

Yes.

15. If not, according to section XII.E.1 of the Annual FOIA Report, did your agency process more appeals during Fiscal Year 2022 than it did during Fiscal Year 2021? N/A

16. If your agency's appeal backlog increased during Fiscal Year 2022, please explain why and describe the causes that contributed to your agency not being able to reduce its backlog. When doing so, please also indicate if any of the following were contributing factors:

An increase in the number of incoming appeals
A loss of staff
An increase in the complexity of the requests received (if possible, please provide examples or briefly describe the types of complex requests contributing to your backlog increase)
Impact of COVID-19 and workplace and safety precautions
Any other reasons – please briefly describe or provide examples when possible

17. If you had an appeal backlog please report the percentage of appeals that make up the backlog out of the total number of appeals received by your agency in Fiscal Year 2022. Please use the following Calculation based on data from your Annual FOIA Report: (backlogged appeals from Section XII.A) divided by (appeals received from Section VI.A) x 100. This number can be greater than 100%. If your agency did not receive any appeals in Fiscal Year 2022 and/or has no appeal backlog, please answer with "N/A."

Backlogged Appeals

Fiscal Year	Number of Backlogged Appeals at End of FY	Number of Appeals Received	Percentage of Appeals that make up the Backlog
2021	295	178	165.7%
2022	286	185	154.6%

D. Backlog Reduction Plans

18. In the 2022 guidelines for Chief FOIA Officer Reports, any agency with a backlog of over 1000 requests in Fiscal Year 2021 was asked to provide a plan for achieving backlog reduction in the year ahead. Did your agency implement a backlog reduction plan last year? If so, describe your agency's efforts in implementing this plan and note if your agency was able to achieve backlog reduction in Fiscal Year 2022?

Yes. In Fiscal Year 2021, DOL developed a FOIA Backlog Reduction Plan focused on the following target goals:

TARGET 1: Eliminate all backlogged FOIA requests received by the Department during calendar years 2014-2016 by 100% by December 31, 2021.
TARGET 2: Take proactive steps to encourage the reduction of the number of backlogged FOIA requests received by the Department during calendar years 2017 and 2018 by 100% by September 30, 2022.
TARGET 3: Consistent with the Department's standing FOIA Modernization Initiative, take proactive steps to encourage the reduction by September 30, 2022, of the number of remaining backlogged FOIA requests received by the Department during calendar year 2019 by 50% and by 25% for FOIA requests received during calendar year 2020 and2021.
TARGET 4: Take proactive steps to encourage the reduction of the overall backlog of FOIA requests by 20% on or before September 30, 2022, in compliance with the Department's backlog reduction goal established in the DOL Financial and Administrative Management Scorecard.

While the Department had some success in closing some of it oldest pending cases, it was not able to reduce its overall backlog.

19. If your agency had a backlog of more than 1,000 requests in Fiscal Year 2022, please explain your agency's plan to reduce this backlog during Fiscal Year 2023.

Building on the plan developed in FY22, DOL will continue to monitor data within the established target areas and establish robust timelines for achieving those goals.

E. Reducing the Age of Requests, Appeals, and Consultations

TEN OLDEST REQUESTS

20. In Fiscal Year 2022, did your agency close the ten oldest pending perfected requests that were reported in Section VII.E. of your Fiscal Year 2021 Annual FOIA Report?

No.

21. If no, please provide the number of these requests your agency was able to close by the end of the fiscal year, as listed in Section VII.E of your Fiscal Year 2021 Annual FOIA Report. If you had less than ten total oldest requests to close, please indicate that.

FY 2021 Ten Oldest FOIA Requests		FY 2022 Ten Oldest FOIA Requests
10th Oldest	05-19-2017 1097	10th Oldest	10-11-2017 1249
9th Oldest	05-08-2017 1098	9th Oldest	10-06-2017 1251
8th Oldest	05-15-2017 76	8th Oldest	10-05-2017 1252
7th Oldest	05-12-2017 247	7th Oldest	08-18-2017 1285
6th Oldest	05-10-2017 1104	6th Oldest	07-17-2017 1309
5th Oldest	03-20-2017 1141	5th Oldest	05-15-2017 327
4th Oldest	03-20-2017 1141	4th Oldest	05-12-2017 1353
3rd Oldest	02-13-2017 1165	3rd Oldest	05-10-2017 1355
2nd Oldest	01-26-2017 1177	2nd Oldest	03-20-2017 1392
Oldest Request	01-13-2017 1185	Oldest Request	01-13-2017 1436

Note: As demonstrated in yellow shading within the above table, the Department closed five of the ten oldest FOIA initial requests that were reported within the FY 2021 FOIA Annual Report.

22. Beyond work on the ten oldest requests, please describe any steps your agency took to reduce the overall age of your pending requests.

Please see the answer provided in response to Section V(D)(18) above.

TEN OLDEST APPEALS

23. In Fiscal Year 2022, did your agency close the ten oldest appeals that were reported pending in Section VI.C.5 of your Fiscal Year 2021 Annual FOIA Report?

Yes. See chart below.

24. If no, please provide the number of these appeals your agency was able to close by the end of the fiscal year, as listed in Section VII.C.(5) of your Fiscal Year 2021 Annual FOIA Report. If you had less than ten total oldest appeals to close, please indicate that.

FY 2021 Ten Oldest FOIA Requests		FY 2022 Ten Oldest FOIA Requests
10th Oldest	12-16-2016 1203	10th Oldest	12-04-2017 1213
9th Oldest	12-16-2016 1203	9th Oldest	09-20-2017 1263
8th Oldest	12-16-2016 1203	8th Oldest	09-20-2017 1263
7th Oldest	11-14-2016 1226	7th Oldest	07-26-2017 1302
6th Oldest	11-01-2016 1234	6th Oldest	06-12-2017 1333
5th Oldest	11-01-2016 1234	5th Oldest	06-12-2017 1333
4th Oldest	10-19-2016 1243	4th Oldest	06-05-2017 1338
3rd Oldest	10-07-2016 1250	3rd Oldest	05-16-2017 1351
2nd Oldest	06-30-2016 1319	2nd Oldest	02-06-2017 1421
Oldest Request	01-15-2016 1435	Oldest Request	01-27-2017 1427

Note: As demonstrated in yellow shading within the above table, the Department closed the ten oldest FOIA Appeals that were reported within the FY 2021 FOIA Annual Report.

25. Beyond work on the ten oldest appeals, please describe any steps your agency took to reduce the overall age of your pending appeals.

The FOIA Appeals Unit in the Office of the Solicitor prioritizes closing the Top Ten oldest appeals every year, as well as seeking to close older appeals under the "first in first out" processing approach. A list of the Top Ten oldest appeals is created at the beginning of the fiscal year; all ten cases are assigned at that time and their progress is monitored by the Counsel for FOIA Appeals throughout the fiscal year. The FOIA Appeals counsel regularly invites detailees into the FOIA Appeals Unit to handle simple track cases so the experienced permanent attorney staff can turn their attention to the oldest and most complex appeals. Additionally, the FOIA Appeals Unit is in regular contact with requesters who have older pending appeals to determine their continued interest.

TEN OLDEST CONSULTATIONS

26. In Fiscal Year 2022, did your agency close the ten oldest consultations that were reported pending in Section XII.C. of your Fiscal Year 2021 Annual FOIA Report?

No.

27. If no, please provide the number of these consultations your agency was able to close by the end of the fiscal year, as listed in Section XII.C. of your Fiscal Year 2021 Annual FOIA Report. If you had less than ten total oldest consultations to close, please indicate that.

FY 2021 Ten Oldest FOIA Requests		FY 2022 Ten Oldest FOIA Requests
10th Old	N/A	10th Oldest	N/A
9th Oldest	N/A	9th Oldest	N/A
8th Oldest	N/A	8th Oldest	N/A
7th Oldest	N/A	7th Oldest	09-30-2022 0
6th Oldest	N/A	6th Oldest	09-22-2022 6
5th Oldest	04-16-2021 117	5th Oldest	09-22-2022 6
4th Oldest	09-16-2019 456	4th Oldest	01-25-2022 174
3rd Oldest	07-18-2019 555	3rd Oldest	04-16-2021 368
2nd Oldest	04-25-2019 613	2nd Oldest	07-18-2019 806
Oldest Request	01-31-2019 672	Oldest Request	04-25-2019 864

Note: As demonstrated in yellow shading within the above table, the Department closed two of the five FOIA Consultations that were reported within the FY 2021 FOIA Annual Report.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION REGARDING TEN OLDEST

28. If your agency did not close its ten oldest pending requests, appeals, or consultations, please explain why and provide a plan describing how your agency intends to close those "ten oldest" requests, appeals, and consultations during Fiscal Year 2023.

During FY 2022, the Department was successful in reducing its FOIA appeals backlog and closing all 10 of its reported "ten oldest" FOIA appeals. Moving forward in FY 2023, the plan is to continue reinforcing the importance of the agency's "FOIA Backlog Reduction Plan", as well as to analyze and issue guidance pertaining to each individual agency's FOIA review information that was obtained during the 2022 review process. The purpose of the reviews is to identify possible deficiencies within specific agency components with respect to FOIA processing, self-auditing and backlog reduction activities.

The Department will continue to share FOIA best practices with FOIA professionals and by the direction of the Chief FOIA Officer, there will be a number of additional FOIA related trainings scheduled during the fiscal year.

F. Additional Information about FOIA Processing

29. Were any requests at your agency the subject of FOIA litigation during the reporting period? If so, please describe the impact on your agency's overall FOIA request processing and backlog. If possible, please indicate the number and nature of requests subject to litigation, common causes leading to litigation, and any other information to illustrate the impact of litigation on your overall FOIA administration.

During fiscal year 2022, the Office of the Solicitor, Management and Administrative Legal Services FOIA and Information Law Counsel area handled 15 open FOIA litigation matters, with the closure of two cases during the fiscal year.

Most of the cases were brought based upon issues surrounding timeliness with respect to FOIA initial request or FOIA appeals processing.

30. How many requests during Fiscal Year 2022 involved unusual circumstances as defined by the FOIA? (This information is available in your agency's FY22 raw data).

The DOL FOIA tracking system is not configured to capture data on the number of FOIA requests that involved "unusual circumstances."

2023 Chief FOIA Officer Report - Solicitor of Labor/DOL Chief FOIA Officer Report

U.S. Department of Labor

2023 Chief FOIA Officer Report Solicitor of Labor/DOL Chief FOIA Officer

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

2023 Chief FOIA Officer Report
Solicitor of Labor/DOL Chief FOIA Officer