Oklahoma Department of Labor
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The Oklahoma Department of Labor (ODOL) is an
agency Agency may refer to: Organizations * Institution, governmental or others ** Advertising agency or marketing agency, a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising for its clients ** Employment agency, a business that ...
of the
government of Oklahoma The government of the U.S. State of Oklahoma, established by the Oklahoma Constitution, is a republican democracy modeled after the federal government of the United States. The state government has three branches: the executive, legislative, and ...
that is headed by the
Oklahoma Labor Commissioner The Oklahoma Commissioner of Labor is an elective executive officer of the State of Oklahoma. The Labor Commissioner serves as the head of the Oklahoma Department of Labor. The Labor Commissioner is responsible for supervising the administration ...
, a statewide elected position. ODOL is responsible for supervising the administration of all state laws relating to labor and workplace safety and gathers and publishes information about the workforce of Oklahoma. The present Commissioner of Labor is
Leslie Osborn Leslie Osborn (born October 17, 1963) is an American politician serving as the Oklahoma Labor Commissioner, Oklahoma labor commissioner. She was previously a member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives from 2008 to 2018. Early life and care ...
who was elected by the people in November 2018 and took office January 2019.


Responsibilities

The ODOL is responsible for the administration and enforcement of the State's minimum wage law, enforces the State's child labor laws, oversees that State's workers’ compensation insurance compliance program, and investigates and mediates of unpaid wages disputes. Additionally, the ODOL has jurisdiction for the inspection of welded steam lines, boiler and pressure vessels, elevators, amusement and water rides, and water heaters in public facilities. The Department is responsible for the certification of welders and weld-testing laboratories as well as the regulation and certification of asbestos workers. The ODOL is also the primary enforcement agency of
occupational safety and health Occupational safety and health (OSH), also commonly referred to as occupational health and safety (OHS), occupational health, or occupational safety, is a multidisciplinary field concerned with the safety, health, and welfare of people at wor ...
for public employees across the State.


History

In August 1907 delegates from the Twin-Territorial Federation of Labor, the State Farmers' Union, and the Railroad Brotherhoods met in Shawnee and formulated a list of 24 demands for the forthcoming constitutional convention. The 12th demand called for the establishment of State Department of Labor and Commerce. Consequently, when the new state constitution was ratified by delegates to the constitutional convention in 1907 the Oklahoma Department of Labor was created. Since its inception, the Oklahoma Department of Labor has functioned continuously for more than 100 years under the direction of 18 different Commissioners and 22 governors. Oklahoma's first Commissioner of Labor was Charles A. Daugherty, who served for two four-year terms from 1907 to 1915, under Governors C.N. Haskell and Lee Cruce. At that time, the Labor Department was located in Guthrie, as were all state agencies. The original staff consisted of five people: a commissioner; an assistant commissioner; a state factory inspector; a superintendent of the State Free Employment Bureau; and a stenographer. Due largely to the infusion of federal funds from Wagner-Peyser and
Social Security Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...
grants, the Oklahoma Employment Service and the Unemployment Compensation and Placement Division of the Oklahoma Department of Labor had grown to include more than 300 employees in 33 offices throughout the state by 1940. Federal grants accounted for 85 percent of the funds budgeted for these activities. Then, in 1941, the 18th Legislature amended the Oklahoma Unemployment Compensation Law extensively, changing the name to the Oklahoma Security Act, and renamed administration of the Act from the Commissioner of Labor to the
Oklahoma Employment Security Commission The Oklahoma Employment Security Commission (OESC) is an independent agency of the state of Oklahoma responsible for providing employment services to the citizens of Oklahoma. The commission is part of a national network of employment service age ...
. By FY 1940-41, the Department of Labor had been reduced to 16 employees operating on only 11 percent of the previous year's budget. Today the Department of Labor has an authorized staff of 86 with one office in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The present Commissioner of Labor is Lesie Orborn who was elected by the people in November 2018 and took office January 2019.


Divisions

As the head of the Department of Labor, the Labor Commissioner supervises, directs, and controls the following agencies Labor Divisions: *Commissioner of Labor **Deputy Commissioner ***Administration Division - provides administrative support and handles the business functions of the Department, including responsibility for communications, finance and accounting, human resources, purchasing, research, agency legal services, legislative affairs and constituent services, information technology and data processing services, mail and reception ****Finance Unit ****Legal Affairs Unit ****Information Technology Unit ***Asbestos Abatement Division - responsible for ensuring asbestos abatement projects are accomplished safely and in accordance with the law, and also administers an
Environmental Protection Agency A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...
(EPA) grant program to manage asbestos hazards in schools ***Employment Standards Division ****Child Labor Unit - responsible for enforcement of Oklahoma's Child Labor statutes ****Wage and Hour Unit - responsible for processing all wage claims under the Labor Department's jurisdiction ***Public Employee Occupational Safety and Health Division (PEOSH) - provides consultation and enforcement services to public sector employers to protect public employees from workplace accidents and injuries. ***Safety Pay OSHA Consultation Division - provides free, confidential, voluntary and non-punitive safety and health consultation services to private sector employers in the state ***Safety Standards Division - regulates the installation, operation and maintenance of boilers, pressure vessels, hot water heaters and amusement rides, and also regulates welding practices ***Licensing Division - handles State-wide licensing for asbestos, welding, weld test facilities and weld inspectors, amusements, alarm, locksmith, fire sprinkler, elevator, alternative fuels, and boilers/pressure vessels. ***Statistical Research Analysis Division - responsible for conducting occupational safety and health surveys in conjunction with the
United States Department of Labor The United States Department of Labor (DOL) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is responsible for the administration of federal laws governing occupational safety and health, wage and hour standards, unemploym ...
's
Bureau of Labor Statistics The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is a unit of the United States Department of Labor. It is the principal fact-finding agency for the U.S. government in the broad field of labor economics and statistics and serves as a principal agency of t ...
and for providing incident and research information to assist safety officials with their safety programs.


Staffing

The Labor Department, with an annual budget of just over $7 million, is one of the smaller employers of the State. For fiscal year 2018, the Department was authorized 86 full-time employees.FY 2011 State Budget
Oklahoma Office of State Finance The Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services (OMES) is a government agency which manages and supports the basic functioning of the government of Oklahoma. Under the leadership of the Oklahoma Secretary of Agency Accountability, OMES ...


See also

*
Oklahoma Labor Commissioner The Oklahoma Commissioner of Labor is an elective executive officer of the State of Oklahoma. The Labor Commissioner serves as the head of the Oklahoma Department of Labor. The Labor Commissioner is responsible for supervising the administration ...
*
Governor of Oklahoma The governor of Oklahoma is the head of government of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Under the Oklahoma Constitution, the governor serves as the head of the Oklahoma Executive (government), executive branch, of the government of Oklahoma. The gove ...
*
Oklahoma Employment Security Commission The Oklahoma Employment Security Commission (OESC) is an independent agency of the state of Oklahoma responsible for providing employment services to the citizens of Oklahoma. The commission is part of a national network of employment service age ...


References


External links


Oklahoma Department of Labor official website
Labor, Department of State departments of labor of the United States * {{Oklahoma-gov-stub