STATEMENT FROM THE CHAIR OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
The Board of Directors of the Office of Compliance (OOC) once again applauds the agency for its many accomplishments during fiscal year 2012. The OOC, along with every agency in the Federal government has had to rethink how to fulfill its mandates and mission, while conforming to current fiscal constraints. Truly, fiscal year 2012 has been a challenging one for the OOC. However, the staff has faced these challenges to provide the programs and services mandated by the Congressional Accountability Act (CAA) to further workplace rights, safety and health, and public access.
The OOC’s success in servicing the Congressional community is due largely to the dedication of OOC staff. The OOC is a very small agency: 21 full-time equivalent employees and several contractors perform the work that is required by the CAA. The work we do on behalf of the Legislative Branch is equivalent to that performed by several different agencies and offices within the Executive Branch: the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Federal Labor Relations Authority, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, to name a few. With this large and important mission and minimal resources, the OOC could only accomplish its statutory requirements with the full commitment of its workforce. During fiscal year 2012, the staff of the Office ensured successful completion of a first-ever risk-based safety and health inspection, provided educational materials to covered employers and employees
in cost-efficient and effective ways, and ensured unfettered access to the agency’s dispute resolution program. Though workplaces to be inspected continued to increase and employees continued to seek OOC’s services to resolve workplace issues, the resources provided to the agency dwindled; however, the quality of services provided by the agency remained excellent, largely due to the skill level, steadfastness, and professionalism of OOC staff.
