Skip to main content

Department of Labor

Jump To:

Recent Reports

View More Reports

Open Recommendations (76 total)

Service Members Transitioning to Civilian Life: Agencies Can Improve Warm Handovers for Additional Assistance

GAO-24-106248
Show
1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Labor The Secretary of Labor should ensure that the Assistant Secretary for Veterans' Employment and Training Service coordinates with DOD through the Transition Assistance Program interagency partnership to identify criteria and standards for ENPP to determine whether and how to scale the piloted approach into the overall warm handover process. (Recommendation 8)
Open
DOL agreed with this recommendation. The agency emphasized its commitment to leveraging its resources and services along with its interagency partners, including DOD, that are available for transitioning service members. We will monitor the agency's efforts to implement this recommendation.

401(k) Plans: Additional Federal Actions Would Help Participants Track and Consolidate Their Retirement Savings

GAO-24-103577
Show
2 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Labor The Secretary of Labor should ensure that plan participants, at the time they leave their job and become eligible to take a retirement plan distribution, receive easily-understandable information about all four distribution options and their associated tax consequences. Actions that could be taken include implementing the ERISA Advisory Council's 2015 recommendation, exploring a joint-agency effort with Treasury to update the 402(f) Notice, or other steps that would help plans develop clear and concise communications to inform participants. (Recommendation 4)
Open
DOL stated that it would consider two actions to address this recommendation. DOL stated that it is engaged in joint agency efforts and that it would be appropriate for them to consider our recommendation as part of such efforts with Treasury, IRS, and PBGC, as required under the SECURE 2.0 Act. Under the act, the agencies are to study, analyze, and report to Congress on the effectiveness of their reporting and disclosure requirements before the end of 2025. We agree that the forthcoming joint-agency study can lead to improvements in reporting and disclosure requirements for plans and participants across a range of retirement issues and encourage DOL to continue these efforts. In addition, DOL noted that the SECURE 2.0 Act directs them to issue regulations requiring plans to provide advanced notice to participants who are permitted to take lump sum distributions with specified information to help them compare other distribution options and the potential consequences of taking a lump sum. DOL stated that it will consider our recommendation to ensure participants receive easily understandable, timely, and comprehensive information as part of that work. By doing so, DOL can help ensure participants understand all their distribution options and make more informed decisions about their retirement savings after separating from their employer. We will monitor the agency's efforts.
Department of Labor The Secretary of Labor should take action to implement the ERISA Advisory Council's 2016 recommendation by issuing a Request for Information to explore how the agency can encourage and support the adoption of secure electronic data standards to facilitate the processing of plan-to-plan rollovers. (Recommendation 2)
Open
DOL stated that it may be premature to assess whether or how it should act on this recommendation before Treasury issues its guidance on rollovers by January 1, 2025, as required under the SECURE 2.0 Act. We note in our report that Treasury's upcoming guidance can help standardize rollovers. However, if Treasury's guidance does not address the development of a system based on secure electronic data standards to facilitate efficient plan-to-plan rollovers, DOL should take action. DOL also stated that as part of its current work to implement a statutory prohibited transaction exemption for "automatic portability providers" under the SECURE 2.0 Act, it is considering proposing possible standards for such providers of IRA-to-plan rollovers to safeguard portability data and remedy potential security breaches. We commend this approach and believe that an initiative to develop secure standards to safeguard data for automatic IRA-to-plan rollovers would be enhanced if conducted alongside a Request for Information for secure electronic data standards for plan-to-plan rollovers. Without continued progress towards developing secure electronic standards to facilitate efficient plan-to-plan rollovers, participants will likely continue to find the process challenging and may avoid consolidating their savings altogether. We will monitor the agency's progress on this recommendation.

Artificial Intelligence: Agencies Have Begun Implementation but Need to Complete Key Requirements

GAO-24-105980
Show
1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Labor The Secretary of Labor should ensure that the department updates its AI use case inventory to include all the required information, at minimum, and takes steps to ensure that the data in the inventory aligns with provided instructions. (Recommendation 22)
Open
When we confirm what actions the agency has taken in response to this recommendation, we will provide updated information.

Work Arrangements: Improved Collaboration Could Enhance Labor Force Data

GAO-24-105651
Show
1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Labor The Secretary of Labor should ensure that the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics leads an effort, in coordination with OMB, including outreach to other relevant statistical agencies and programs, to develop or adapt an interagency collaborative mechanism for improving the measurement of work arrangements, including nonstandard and contract work. (Recommendation 1)
Open – Partially Addressed
In February 2024, DOL reported that the Bureau of Labor Statistics agreed to chair the committee and assume its management responsibilities. DOL noted that eleven agencies plan to participate in the committee. GAO will review the committee's activities and continue to monitor DOL and OMB's efforts to implement the recommendations.

Employee Benefits Security Administration: Systematic Process Needed to Better Manage Priorities and Increased Responsibilities

GAO-24-105667
Show
1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Labor The Secretary of Labor should direct EBSA to develop and document a systematic decision-making process for oversight responsibilities and allocating staff in a changing budget environment, which could be incorporated within current planning documents. (Recommendation 1)
Open
EBSA agreed with our assessment of the agency's mission and its budgetary challenges, but disagreed with our conclusion that the agency had not adequately documented its decision-making process. However, EBSA also said it would take further steps to enhance its formal documentation of that process, in accordance with this recommendation. The agency also agreed it could better document the resource planning process to increase transparency-and that it will review its current documentation processes and implement appropriate changes. In addition, EBSA specifically noted that it plans to document the operation, maintenance, and decision-making process associated with employee training in a way that is consistent with our recommendation. We will monitor the agency's progress on these efforts.

Unemployment Insurance: DOL Needs to Further Help States Overcome IT Modernization Challenges

GAO-23-105478
Show
1 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Labor The Secretary of the Department of Labor should direct the Office of Unemployment Insurance to measure states' UI IT performance against established standards. (Recommendation 3)
Open
In its comments on our draft report, DOL concurred with our recommendation. As of February 2024, DOL had not yet established IT standards needed to measure states' UI IT performance. We will continue to be in contact with DOL to gain additional information on the actions the department is taking and their progress toward completion.

Unemployment Insurance: DOL Needs to Further Help States Overcome IT Modernization Challenges

GAO-23-105478
Show
2 Open Recommendations
Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Labor The Secretary of the Department of Labor should direct the Office of Unemployment Insurance Modernization and the Office of the Chief Information Officer to update their processes for UI pilots to reflect leading practices for pilot design, and implement the leading pilot design practices that address the weaknesses that we identified on its future pilots. (Recommendation 1)
Open
In its comments on our draft report, DOL partially concurred with our recommendation. In October 2023, DOL described pilots that the department was currently engaged in and its design approach for the pilots. In order to close this recommendation, DOL will need to provide documentation that demonstrates the department has updated its processes for the pilots to reflect leading practices, and that it has implemented leading practices to address the weaknesses we identified.
Department of Labor The Secretary of the Department of Labor should direct the Office of Unemployment Insurance to define UI IT modernization standards for states. (Recommendation 2)
Open
In its comments on our draft report, DOL partially concurred with our recommendation. In October 2023, DOL outlined steps it would take to address the recommendation, including establishing IT standards and notifying states. As of February 2024, DOL had not provided documentation that it had completed these steps. We will continue to be in contact with DOL to gain additional information on the actions the department is taking and their progress toward completion.
View More Recommendations

Related Pages