The Plain Writing Act of 2010(link is external) requires federal agencies to write "clear Government communication that the public can understand and use."

The U.S. Department of Labor is committed to complying with the law. Our plain writing webpage includes:

  • An overview of the law.
  • A summary of the Department's goals.
  • Plain language contact information.

We had multiple plain language achievements in fiscal year 2024.

Agency Activities and Accomplishments

  • We continue to implement the recommendations of the Office of Compliance Initiatives' (OCI) comprehensive review of the Department's enforcement agencies' compliance assistance materials and tools to determine whether they are current, easily accessible, and understandable.
  • We continue to host an intranet page with information and resources on plain language for all staff.
  • We continue to promote and share our one-page plain language quick reference guide to all staff through our new plain language intranet page. The reference guide is easy to use and provides at-a-glance plain language tips and resources.
  • Our inter-agency plain language working group continued to meet regularly to discuss plain language developments, review agency materials and develop resources.
  • In FY 2024, an internal subject matter expert provided tailored plain language trainings for several agencies, working groups and communities of practice, including the Civil Rights Center's Centralized Office of Language Assistance, the Chief Diversity and Equity Office, the Departmental Budget Center and the Section 508 working group. The trainings covered the main plain language principles, examples and resources.
  • The working group coordinated with the Performance Management Center to incorporate a requirement for agencies to document in their Agency Management Plans how they plan to use plain language in public facing materials and provide training for their staff to build plain language skills.
  • We also coordinated with the Centralized Office of Language Assistance to include a chapter section on the importance of plain language principles in support of language access and inclusion in their Primer on Inclusive Language for Written and Oral Communication.
  • The subject matter expert also provided train-the-trainer sessions to a half dozen working group members to increase the pool of available trainers for future requests.
  • The Office of Public Affairs and the Office of the Chief Information Officer met several times to discuss efforts to improve user experience on the department's website. Department representatives also attended regular meetings of a newly established federal digital experience council.
  • All new employees take a mandatory online plain language training within 90 days of starting their position, and last year we launched a revamped online plain language training previously offered only to new employees. All DOL employees must now take the training every three years. In FY 2024, 3,576 Department employees completed the training and received a completion certificate.
  • In FY 2024, the plain language working group participated in an accessibility-centered revision of the department-wide required plain language training to streamline the training, address some bugs identified in the first rollout, and bring the training into compliance with new department standards for 508 compliance in training materials.
  • At the end of the fiscal year, the group underwent a restructuring to provide support for a newly established community of practice, to create more training opportunities for a larger community within the department. The group also identified key subject areas for future trainings and potential subject matter experts.

Evaluation

Since 2012, the Center for Plain Language(link is external) evaluates federal agencies for compliance with the Plain Writing Act.

This year, they reviewed 10 high-impact service provider pages, including two from the Department of Labor: An Office of Workers' Compensation Programs page (Filing a workers' compensation claim under the Federal Employees Compensation Act), which received a C, and an Employee Benefits Security Administration page (Filing a claim for your disability benefits), which received a D.

The evaluation assesses four key areas: Do readers get what they need? Can readers find what they need? Can readers easily understand the entry? Can readers easily use this entry? The department's grades were among the lowest received this year, indicating a need to improve our agency-level outreach and training, as well as ensuring plain language principles are incorporated into web design. We shared these results with department and agency leaders, communications professionals, web developers and others to underscore the need for plain language in all our public-facing materials.

Marisela Douglass, Senior Official for Plain Language
Laura McGinnis, Office of Public Affairs