WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Labor on Tuesday extended key contest deadlines for workplace safety citations and began clearing a backlog of unprocessed complaints, as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration resumed normal enforcement operations following a federal funding lapse.
OSHA officials said the agency received numerous safety and health complaints during the shutdown that did not meet the threshold for excepted activity and therefore went unprocessed. Those complaints are now being addressed, and individuals do not need to file again. Complaints may be handled through informal inquiry, depending on circumstances.
The agency also extended the 15-day window employers have to contest citations issued immediately before or during the shutdown. For companies that received citations between October 1 and November 12, shutdown days will not count toward the deadline, and the new contest period now runs through Thursday.
Under federal law, employers have 15 working days to comply with citations, request an informal OSHA conference, or contest the findings before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. Citations and penalties may be adjusted during the review process.
As OSHA presses forward with enforcement, Labor Department leadership also highlighted broader changes across the federal workforce portfolio, pointing to what they described as a historic integration effort between the Departments of Labor and Education.
On Friday, the two agencies reported successful early results from a new partnership designed to streamline federal programs under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. The transition of the WIOA state plan portal to the Labor Department marks a key structural shift intended to eliminate duplicative systems and allow states to manage adult education, career and technical education, and workforce initiatives through a single entry point.
Since October 1, the agencies have processed nearly 800 payment requests from 43 states and territories, and all grantees have now been brought onto the federal GrantSolutions and Payment Management platforms.
“The Department of Labor is committed to working closely with the Department of Education to reduce federal bureaucracy and better integrate our education and workforce development systems,” Acting Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training Lori Frazier Bearden said.
Education officials said states are already reporting improvements. Nick Moore, acting assistant secretary for Career, Technical, and Adult Education, said the unified structure enables “commonsense reforms” that help states model high-performing systems.
Governors from Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and Nebraska also praised the changes, pointing to long-running state-level efforts to combine education and workforce pipelines. Workforce agencies in several states said the new federal structure gives states increased clarity and flexibility to build talent systems aligned with employer needs.
The partnership follows an interagency agreement signed in May that allows the Labor Department to administer certain day-to-day operations for Education Department workforce programs while Education retains policymaking and oversight authority. The agencies began consolidating platforms in September, and Education’s Perkins and Adult Education grants were reactivated under Labor systems by late that month.
Labor officials said the combined approach reflects a broader federal strategy to create a more efficient, demand-driven workforce system and accelerate pathways connecting education to high-wage employment.
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