ILRGL 2010: Labor and Employment Law (Spring 2025): Agencies

The National Labor Relations Board is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1935 to administer the National Labor Relations Act, the primary law governing relations between unions and employers in the private sector.

Operations-Management memoranda are issued to the field offices from the Division of Operations-Management of the General Counsel’s Office in Washington to give direction in case handling matters.

The DOL fosters and promotes the welfare of the job seekers, wage earners, and retirees of the United States by improving their working conditions, advancing their opportunities for profitable employment, protecting their retirement and health care benefits, helping employers find workers, strengthening free collective bargaining, and tracking changes in employment, prices, and other national economic measurements.

The EEOC is responsible for enforcing federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against a job applicant or an employee because of the person's race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information. It is also illegal to discriminate against a person because the person complained about discrimination, filed a charge of discrimination, or participated in an employment discrimination lawsuit.

The FLRA is an independent administrative federal agency created by Title VII of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978. The Statute allows certain non-postal federal employees to organize, bargain collectively, and to participate through labor organizations of their choice in decisions affecting their working lives.

The FMCS provides arbitration and mediation services to industry, communities, and governmental agencies worldwide. Its mission is to improve labor-management relations, promote collective bargaining, and enhance organizational effectiveness.

NIOSH is the federal agency responsible for conducting research, providing education and training, disseminating information, and making recommendations for the prevention of work-related injury and illness. It is part of the CDC, Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.

The NMB is an agency authorized by the Railway Labor Act to promote peace in the railway and airline industries. Select Resources>Knowledge Store to browse collective bargaining agreements.

OSHA was established by the Occupational Safety and Health Act to set and enforce standards; provide training, outreach, and education; establish partnerships; and encourage continual improvement in workplace safety and health.

The OLMS of the U.S. Department of Labor administers and enforces most provisions of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (LMRDA). The LMRDA promotes union democracy and financial integrity in private sector labor unions through standards for union officer elections and union trusteeships and safeguards for union assets.

Links to all 50 state labor departments.