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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR (DOL)
COMPONENTS WITH OUTSTANDING REQUESTS AS OLD AS ONE YEAR,
BUT UNALBE TO DETERMINE AGENCY BACKLOG
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Recordkeeping Issues - The DOL is a highly decentralized
agency for FOIA purposes. DOL advised the Archive that it
would be "almost impossible" to process the request
for the Ten Oldest FOIA Requests if we wanted information
from the components. Accordingly, the Archive initially limited
the search to the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration
and Management. There has still been no response from that
office. The Archive later determined to submit FOIA requests
to the five DOL components that receive the greatest number
of FOIA requests. One of these, the Employment Standards Administration,
indicated that it has no fax available to the public. Another
of the components, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration
advised that it would have to refer the request to over 100
individual people in order to locate the Ten Oldest FOIA requests;
accordingly, the Archive limited that request to the oldest
requests pending in that particular OSHA component and to
any FOIA logs maintained by that component of OSHA. |
Ten Oldest - Nothing yet received from the Office
of the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management
despite over 190 business days since the submission of the
request. Nothing received from the Employee Benefits Security
Administration (EBSA), the Employment and Training Administration
(ETA), or the Occupational Safety and Health Administration
(OSHA), although those requests have been pending for over
65 business days. The Mine Safety and Health Administration
reported ten requests pending since August 1, 2002 to June
3, 2003. The Employment Standards Administration (ESA) Office
of Workers' Compensation Programs reported ten requests pending
since June 15, 2003 to September 8, 2003. |
Workload Statistics - DOL's reported statistics from
1998 through 2002 indicate that the agency has received a
varying number of number of FOIA requests from a high of 22,469
in 2000 to a low of 17,722 in 2002 (down 2.8% from 18,037
in 1998 to 17,722 in 2002). The number processed each year
also has varied from a high of 22,505 in 2000 to a low of
17, 540 in 1998 (up 3.8% from 17,540 processed in 1998 to
18,201 processed in 2002). DOL's processing rate per year
-- a comparison of the number of requests processed to the
number received -- increased from 97.24% in 1998 to 102.70%
in 2002. |
Backlog Statistics - DOL's backlog of pending FOIA
requests also has varied (from 994 FOIA requests pending at
the end of 1998 to 809 FOIA requests pending at the end of
2002). DOL's backlog as a percentage of FOIA requests processed
each year has decreased from 5.67% in 1998 to 4.44% in 2002.
Its backlog rate per year -- a comparison of the number of
requests pending at the end of the year to the number received
during that year -- has decreased from 5.51% in 1998 to 4.56%
in 2002. |
Processing Time - Under its two track system, DOL
reports a median processing time in 2002 for simple requests
of 1-109 days, while complex requests have ranged from a median
of 7-49 days in 2002. Expedited requests have a median processing
time range of 3-6 days over the 1998-2001 time period, with
a range of 2-28 reported for 2002. The median days that backlogged
requests have been pending is reported as 8-36 for 2002. |
TEN
OLDEST REQUESTS
Department
of Labor - Mine Safety and Health Administration
MSHA
Response Letter
MSHA
August 1, 2002 Letter
MSHA
September 18, 2002 Letter
MSHA
October 30, 2002 Letter
MSHA
December 4, 2002 Letter
MSHA
December 17, 2002 Letter
MSHA
January 22, 2003 Letter
MSHA
February 25, 2003 Letter
MSHA
March 13, 2003 Letter
MSHA
March 28, 2003 Letter
MSHA
June 3, 2003 Letter
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