OFFICE OF INFORMATION, PUBLICATIONS, AND REPORTS

The chief function of this Office is to keep the public informed about the services of the Department on behalf of workers and their employers.

There are two aspects to this function. The first is to insure that the contents of publications prepared by bureaus are consistently in accordance with departmental policy, objectives, and procedures. Here the purpose is to have the Department recognized as an integrated organizational entity operating as a unit within the executive branch of the Government. The other aspect is to present the functions and services of the Department in such a way as to be of interest to the general public which it serves.

This latter aspect of the work of the Office involves the preparation and issuance of news releases; the preparation and display of exhibits; the compilation of publications having departmentwide significance; and the output of information to some 550 labor and some 3,000 local weekly and other newspapers.

Representatives of the Office participate in various conferences and conventions of labor unions and business and professional organizations, set up appropriate exhibits depicting the services of the Department, and explain ways in which the Department serves the public. Several hundred such conferences are attended every year.

Telephone, personal, and written inquiries of specific bureau interest addressed to the Department are answered directly by the bureaus concerned. More general inquiries, some 70,000 a year, are answered by the Office of Information.

A very substantial phase of the work of the Office is the preparation of exhibits, of which more than twice as many were completed this year as last year: 17 large exhibits, including 3 for international trade fairs, and 2,220 small portables, car cards, and posters. The recent introduction of silk-screen reproduction equipment has made this improvement possible. In addition some 50 publications were designed, 2 films in color were prepared, and 4 television spot films on employment of older workers and the importance of education were produced and received wide usage.

Immediately after the enactment of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959, and before a bureau could be organized to administer those provisions of the act assigned to the Department of Labor, members of the Office of Information prepared, in collaboration with representatives of other bureaus in the Department, a series of 11 pamphlets describing the contents of the law. The pamphlets were printed in large quantities and were distributed

or made available to the thousands of labor unions, employers, and members of the general public interested in understanding the requirements of the act.

Early in the year, the Department published the "Farm Labor Fact Book," a major contribution in this area of labor force activity. The book was prepared by the Office of Information in collaboration with technicians in the bureaus directly concerned.

Work is at present well under way in preparing another major publication of the Department-a review and summary of State and Federal labor legisla tion. A second edition of "The American Workers' Fact Book" (some 30,000 of which have been sold by the Government Printing Office during the past 4 years) is now available at $1.50 a copy.

OFFICE OF PERSONNEL ADMINISTRATION

One of the major concerns of this Office during the fiscal year 1960 was the staffing of the new Bureau of Labor-Management Reports. For this purpose, special task forces were formed with members drawn both from the Office of Personnel Administration and from the other bureaus of the Department to work on position classification and recruitment. One hundred fifty-four separate position descriptions were prepared covering all classified positions established as of the end of the fiscal year in the Bureau. Many of these descriptions cover a number of identical positions. From the more than 14,000 applicants, 423 were selected for permanent employment as of June 30, 1960.

Another major undertaking was the overhaul of the merit promotion program. This program had been installed on January 1, 1959. Operations under it were reviewed and analyzed, resulting in changes in coverage and many improvements in procedures. The entire program was broadened to a merit staffing plan.

With the aid of an interbureau advisory committee, the Office of Personnel Administration completed installation in this Department of the new Federal employees' health benefits program. As of the end of the fiscal year, 5,351 employees, of a total of 6,184 eligibles, were enrolled in the program; 833 registered not to enroll.

In the training area, the Department organized a program of training in good supervisory practice and strengthened its executive and career development program. This Office has maintained for several years an inventory of executive positions in the Department which identifies both long-range and immediate replacement possibilities. Thus, the Department was prepared to implement the Presidential directive of February 5, 1960, calling for an executive selection and development program. For this program, a system of forecasting replacement needs has been devised, statements of qualification requirements have been prepared for all positions covered by the program, and tentative development plans have been made by the Bureaus for the training and development of potential replacements for positions included in the program. Employment in the Department at the close of the fiscal year is shown in the following table:

Number of employees on the rolls of the Department of Labor as of June 30, 1960

OFFICE OF THE SOLICITOR

The chief legal officer of the Department is the Solicitor. He is the legal adviser to the Secretary, the Under Secretary, the Assistant Secretaries, the heads of bureaus, and other officers in the Department.

Responsibility rests with the Solicitor for all legal services performed for the Department, including those rendered in connection with hearings and legal proceedings arising under the statutes administered and enforced by the Department. These services also include the furnishing of legal advice and assistance on legislative matters.

The Solicitor additionally performs operating functions involved in the administration and enforcement of the Davis-Bacon Act and other statutes relating to the predetermination and payment of prevailing wages on Federal and federally financed and assisted construction projects. Pursuant to delegation of authority from the Secretary, the Solicitor also exercises final authority in the Department over tort claims arising out of the Department's activities.

The Office of the Solicitor is staffed by attorneys in Washington and in the field offices located throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. The Washington office is organized functionally into eight divisions.

Trial Litigation and Administrative Legal Services

This Division consists of the Branch of Trial Litigation and the Branch of Administrative Legal Services.

The Branch of Trial Litigation performs and coordinates performance of trial litigation functions in the Washington office, and supervises the trial litigation work of the Department's regional attorneys in the courts and before hearing examiners for the enforcement of the principal labor standards laws administered by the Department. In addition, it has responsibility for preparing, for submission to the Department of Justice, criminal cases under these laws and certain others affecting or involving the Department. Through the Department's regional attorneys, it provides necessary assistance to the U.S. Attorneys in the preparation and trial of such cases, supervising the participation of the regional attorneys in these cases.

A total of 1,365 civil and criminal cases under the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Walsh-Healey Public Contracts Act were filed during fiscal year 1960, as