Last week, the Department of Labor (DOL) announced a new regulatory and enforcement strategy that will require businesses to implement self-monitoring plans to ensure compliance with several labor laws. Under the “Plan/Prevent/Protect” initiative, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), and the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) will develop regulatory actions mandating that employers establish and enforce plans for identifying and remedying labor law violations. According to a DOL statement on this new program,

[e]mployers and others must 'find and fix' violations — that is, assure compliance — before a Labor Department investigator arrives at the workplace. Employers and others in the Department's regulated communities must understand that the burden is on them to obey the law, not on the Labor Department to catch them violating the law. This is the heart of the Labor Department's new strategy.

For more information on this DOL initiative and how it will impact employers, see Littler’s ASAP: "Plan/Prevent/Protect": The DOL’s Program to Transform Employment Law Compliance for Businesses by Jay Sumner, Van A. Goodwin, Mary E. Sharp, and Antonio D. Robinson.