Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, HOUSE NEWS—Reps. Scott and Omar seek information to assess impact of DOL staff reductions and office closures, (May 8, 2026)

By Brandi O. Brown, J.D.

They are particularly interested in how those reductions and closures have impacted DOL capacity and operations at the MSHA, OSHA, and WHD.

Representative Bobby Scott, Ranking Member of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Education and Workforce, along with Rep. Ilhan Omar, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections, sent a letter on Wednesday to the Acting Comptroller General of the United States, Ms. Orice Williams Brown, seeking information from GAO about staff reductions and closures at the U.S. Department of Labor.

They are particularly interested in how those reductions and closures have impacted DOL capacity and operations at the MSHA, OSHA, and WHD. DOL was part of the massive government-wide personnel reduction project launched by the Trump administration in January 2025, which they note resulted in the termination and early retirement of employees across at least six of the agencies within DOL. However, they state that they are concerned about how those reductions and office closures could potentially impact the agency’s ability to carry out its mission, particularly since the full scope of those actions is unknown.

To assess the impact of those staff reductions and office closures, they have asked the Government Accountability Office to provide information responsive to a series of questions.

Seeking answers about impacts. They ask about the current state of DOL personnel, wanting to know specifically how many DOL employees have been involuntarily removed or voluntarily accepted an incentive to leave the agency, from January 20, 2025, through the date of the letter, what were their characteristics, and what were the associated savings and costs (including the cost of paying employees to cease working and then restore them to active employment)? Citing these reductions, as well as the voluntary departures of staffers, they want to know to what extent DOL has filled positions or left them unfilled.

Closures. They also want to know which DOL offices were closed from January 20, 2025, through the date of the letter, along with their characteristics and the associated savings and costs of those closures? They also seek information about the extent to which, if any, of those office closures affected the capacity of agencies such as OSHA, MSHA, and WHD to execute their missions.?

Future plans. Additionally, they want to know DOL’s plans for future workforce reductions and office closures during the remainder of the Trump administration, including the anticipated savings and costs? They also ask about DOL’s desired outcomes for its workforce reduction and reorganization efforts, and how the agency plans to achieve them. Finally, they inquire about the extent to which DOL followed selected leading practices for agency reforms to effectively plan for and implement its reorganization and to mitigate risks to public service delivery.

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