August 02, 2001 >
A nonprofit foundation that analyzes employment trends and polices has identified six regulations that it claims "impose significant burdens on the American workplace because they are confusing, duplicative, obsolete or unneeded."

The Employment Policy Foundation, a nonpartisan research and educational foundation based in Washington, D.C., announced Wednesday that it has explained those burdens in a report to the federal Office of Management and Budget. The OMB has solicited input for a coming report to Congress on the costs and benefits of federal regulations.

The EPF recommended the following:

• Clarification of definitions of executive, administrative and professional employees exempt from certain provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
  
• Revision or elimination of record keeping and notification regulations issued under the Family and Medical Leave Act.
  
• Reconciliation of overlapping and inconsistent record keeping and reporting requirements under the equal-opportunity laws.
  
• Suspension or reconsideration of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's record keeping regulation issued on Jan. 19, 2001, to clarify key definitions and reduce
  reporting burden by narrowing its scope.
  
• Simplification of procedures for making local area wage determinations under the Service Contract Act.
  
• Simplification of procedures for certification of employment-based immigration and guest worker applications.

"EPF advocates that federal agencies present intellectually honest, accurate and complete assessments of the rationales and impacts associated with their proposals," said EPF President
Ed Potter. "However, EPF studies have revealed that proposed regulations by federal agencies often exhibit serious flaws that result in poor policy decisions."

Such flaws include: the failure to identify correctly the organizations, employees and others affected by proposed rules; failure to use accurate and objective data when studying a regulation's potential impact; and failure to estimate accurately the costs and benefits of proposed rules.

To read EPF's full report to the OMB, click here.