FY 2001 - Budget Request

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Fiscal Year 2001

Budget Request

March 2000

Table of Contents

Fiscal Year 2001 Budget Request

I. Summary and Highlights

II. Detail of Fiscal Year 2001 Budget Request

Budget by Organizational Function

Budget by Object Classification Category

III. Fiscal Year 2001 Performance Plan

IV. Other Tables

I. Summary and Highlights

The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission is requesting $8,720,000 in funding for

FY 2001. This amount is 3 percent above the amounts available for FY 2000 ($8.470 million). At

the time the President's budget was prepared, we had anticipated rent increases in both Fiscal

Years 2000 and 2001, based on estimates provided by the General Services Administration (GSA).

The $8,720,000 request includes funds for this rent increase. However, since the President's

budget was submitted, we have renegotiated the rent amounts with GSA. The negotiations

resulted in a savings of $380,000 in FY 2001. We propose to use these savings to assist the

Review Commission in meeting its goals under the strategic plan of retiring old and complex

cases, expediting decision making on newer cases, and improving services to its customers. A

series of employee details and temporary hires would be used to expedite the processing of these

old and complex cases. The funds would also provide the ability to enhance our website to include

older Review Commission decisions, to improve search capability of cases on the website, and to

provide links to appropriate state sites.

Through FY 1999, the Review Commission offset a large proportion of the cost of pay raises and

other cost increases by generating internal cost savings. Given the extent of those earlier savings,

however, it has become increasingly difficult to locate additional cost reductions.

With the requested budget, the Review Commission can continue to fulfill its legislative mandate to

resolve disputes between the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and

employers charged with safety and health violations (or with employees or their representatives).

Specifically, it would allow us to:

(1) support 74 FTEs (to be reduced to 70 FTE in future years), while funding a mandatory

pay raise in January of 2001,

(2) absorb an expected increase in judicial workload,
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(3) continue to retire old and complex review level cases,

(4) enhance our website to include older Review Commission decisions, to improve search

capability of cases on the website, and to provide links to appropriate state sites,

(5) continue investing in our employees, and

(6) maintain our technology which has contributed to productivity increases.

Our request would also allow us to fully implement our strategic plan, which targets increased

productivity, higher quality decisions, reductions in case cycle times, higher quality service to the

public, and additional management improvements. Our request assumes additional productivity

increases in judicial case processing, without which our overall case inventory would continue to

grow, particularly if the expansion of OSHA's enforcement jurisdiction over the United States Postal

Service (USPS) increases our overall caseload significantly.

In an attempt to reduce case cycle times, in FY 1999 we implemented a major pilot initiative to

resolve high penalty cases more quickly and economically with mandatory settlement talks under

the supervision of a judge, we will continue this pilot through FY 2000. This "settlement part" to our

procedural rules requires formal settlement efforts before a trial is scheduled for cases where the

proposed penalty is $200,000 or more, or if the Chief Judge decides that it is appropriate. Such

cases have a higher probability of going to trial, and when they do, they are likely to take more

than two years to resolve under our conventional process. The evaluation of the program will be

completed by the beginning of FY 2001. However, this settlement procedure, initiated on February

19, 1999, has already resulted in the settlement of a majority of the cases assigned to the

program.

We believe that the requested increase is reasonable and well justified, particularly in light of the

following major factors:

Workloads - We are requesting the minimal staffing we believe is necessary to handle our

anticipated workload which is expected to grow in FY 2001, as it has done gradually over the past

three years. Between FY 1996 and FY 1999 we experienced a 39 percent growth in the number of

new cases. The number of cases in general, and the number of large or complex cases in

particular, is now at a historic high, and the addition of the USPS cases to OSHA's jurisdiction has

begun to have some effect on our case load. During the last half of FY 1999 we received 29 USPS

cases. In the first three and one half months of FY 2000, we received 11 such cases. Our

experience during the remainder of FY 2000 should give us further indication of whether the USPS

cases will become a significant factor in our caseload.

Meanwhile, the impact of a series of extended vacancies on the Commission has resulted in the

largest inventory of old and complex review cases pending before the Commission in many years.

During 1998 and 1999, we were without one or two Commissioners and their appointed staffs for a

significant part of each year. The vacancies greatly reduced Commission case dispositions. The

reduction of case dispositions has meant that there is a substantial number of old and complex

cases which need to be resolved. The savings realized in our rents would be used to continue to

retire these cases through the use of employee details and temporary hires.

Pay and Benefit Costs - Cumulative increases in pay and benefits since FY 1996 have added

more than $700,000 to the cost of funding staff years. However, we have been able to produce

savings in this area by eliminating three full time permanent positions during FY 1999. Closing our

Boston office allowed us to eliminate two support positions. A third position was eliminated in

headquarters. We also experienced above-average personnel vacancies in recent years due to an

unusually long period of Commissioner vacancies and to our 1996 reduction in force. As a

consequence of these and related savings, by the end of FY 1999, we had returned or deobligated more than one million dollars to the Treasury for FYs 1996 through 1999. In FY 2000 our

cost savings will no longer offset even a portion of the January 2000 and January 2001 mandatory

pay increases. We expect full use of our FTE. During the last nine months of FY 2000 we will

have a full Commission.
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Past Cost Savings - OSHRC has been able to realize significant cost savings by downsizing our

staff, negotiating rent reductions, closing offices, and paring expenses such as subscriptions,

postage, phone service, transcripts, and printing. Although most of these savings have now been

absorbed by successive pay increases, the cumulative impact of these savings has been critical to

our success, and will exceed more than $700,000 in FY 2000.

Technology Costs - Because automation played little or no role in our productivity prior to 1994,

technology costs have grown faster than inflation in recent years. New expense categories have

emerged gradually, such as software and equipment upgrades, contractual support, system

development costs, website maintenance and upgrades for enhanced communications capabilities,

data storage and transfer charges, and increased equipment maintenance costs. For example, this

budget includes $153,000 (1.7 percent) for indispensable technology related expenses that were

either small or nonexistent as recently as FY 1994. Accelerated hardware purchasing in 1999 with

the surplus created by Commissioner vacancies allowed us to request less for FY 2000. This

advantage will disappear in FY 2001. We would use the savings in rents to enhance our website to

include older Review Commission decisions, to improve search capability of cases on the website,

and to provide links to appropriate state sites.

Background

The Review Commission is an independent, adjudicatory agency created by the Occupational

Safety and Health Act of 1970. Its sole statutory mandate is to serve as an administrative court

providing just and expeditious resolution of disputes between OSHA and employers charged with

violations of federal safety and health standards (or with employees or their union representatives).

The Review Commission was designed by Congress as an agency completely independent of the

Department of Labor to ensure that OSHA's enforcement actions are carried out in accordance

with the law and due process and that all parties are treated consistent with due process. In fact,

it was the provision that established the Review Commission (the "Javits Compromise") that ended

the stalemate in Congress and led to the Act's passage.

Workload in Relation to OSHA Activity

Although we are completely independent of OSHA, our workload is strongly influenced by the

nature of OSHA's enforcement activity and by the overall number of OSHA inspections. Thus,

OSHA's emphasis during recent years on more serious workplace hazards, and the consequent

increase in proposed penalties, has translated into more complicated cases, more costly trials and,

from the employer's perspective, harder fought cases with higher economic stakes. This is

illustrated by the fact that the number and proportion of large (those with proposed penalties over

$50,000) or complex cases have steadily increased in recent years. Most recently, in FY 1999,

there was a 23% increase in this type of case.

Current Workload

There has been a historic relationship between the number of OSHA inspections and the total

contested cases. In recent years, OSHRC's workload has grown both in terms of the number of

new cases and in terms of the number of large and complex cases.

A good indication of this growing workload is the fact that in FY 1999 we received 290 cases with

penalties proposed in excess of $50,000 (the large cases). This is well above the 235 such cases

received in FY 1998. We estimate that we will receive 364 cases with penalties over $50,000 in

FY 2001.

Perhaps the best indicator of workload and judicial productivity -- the number of case dispositions

after a hearing -- jumped by 50 percent in 1998 to 158 cases, from 106 such dispositions in 1997.

The number of case dispositions after a hearing remained relatively stable in 1999 with 156 such

cases.

Workload for Fiscal Years 2000 and 2001

Overall we estimate that judicial workload will continue to increase in FYs 2000 and 2001. OSHA
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currently projects 34,500 and 35,600 inspections in FYs 2000 and 2001, respectively. Based on

recent experience, we estimate that the Review Commission will receive at least 2,450 and 2,550

cases in FYs 2000 and 2001, respectively. We estimate that in FY 2000, 325 of these cases will

be in the large (penalties exceeding $50,000) or complex category. In FY 2001 we estimate 364

such cases. This would be the highest intake of these large or complex cases the agency has

experienced.

It is also possible that the inclusion of the USPS in OSHA's enforcement jurisdiction will increase

our workload beyond the estimated level. These cases began arriving the last half of FY 1999. Our

experience in FY 2000 should give us an indication of whether the USPS cases will become a

significant workload factor.

As mentioned earlier, the impact of a series of extended vacancies on the Commission during the

past few years has resulted in the largest inventory of old and complex cases at the review level in

many years.

As noted above, we would also use the savings in rents to enhance our website to include older

Review Commission decisions, to improve search capability of cases on the website, and to

provide links to appropriate state sites.

Strategic Plan Progress and Fiscal Year 2000 and 2001 Goals

The requested funding will allow the Review Commission to continue to handle its expected

workload and support the pursuit of the goals of OSHRC's strategic plan. Highlights of the Review

Commission's progress in addressing certain of its strategic goals and some expectations for the

next two fiscal years are summarized below. The Review Commission's strategic plan and FY

2001 performance goals are included in section III.

In developing our FY 1997-2002 strategic plan, which is required under the Government

Performance and Results Act, we held focus groups with our major stakeholders -- management

attorneys, employers, Department of Labor attorneys and labor unions. Because these focus

groups were invaluable to us, we intend to continue to use focus groups as we refresh our

strategic plan in September of 2000. The candid discussions provided useful insights, and many of

the initiatives in our plan, such as our new settlement program, came directly from those focus

groups.

Public Service Goal: Assure the ready availability of fair, user friendly, and timely

adjudication of all disputes brought before the Review Commission and its judges

and achieve a high level of readability and quality in Review Commission legal

decisions.

In the last five years the Review Commission has achieved significant reductions in overall

judicial case processing times. Cycle time for cases going to trial before its judges was

reduced from 520 days in 1994 to 357 days in 1999. The Review Commission implemented

the E-Z Trial process which resulted in a reduction in processing time at the ALJ level for

less complex cases. We reduced the inventory of very old cases.

The Review Commission developed the E-Z trial process in FY 1995 to reduce the time and

legal expenses to employers contesting relatively small penalty cases. It dispenses with a

variety of time consuming legal processes, such as pleadings and discovery, requires the

Labor Department to provide inspection reports to employers and generally simplifies the

litigation process for the small employers for whom it was designed. This new process was

explicitly designed to ease the burden on small businesses who otherwise might pay a fine

or admit to a violation, in order to avoid costly legal bills. The agency received a Hammer

Award for the E-Z Trial Program in FY 1999 which, as noted earlier, had a significant impact

on case processing times.

In FYs 2000 and 2001, the Review Commission expects to make greater use of the E-Z

Trial and to evaluate its effectiveness. To date, the procedure has been very effective in

achieving more user friendly and timely adjudication of cases. Twenty-eight percent of the
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cases were assigned to the program in FY 1998 and 31 percent of cases in FY 1999. We

estimate that one-third of the new cases will be assigned to E-Z trial in 2000 and 2001.

During the first quarter of FY 2000, cases assigned to E-Z trial averaged 98 days to decide

(188 days for those cases which were heard and 95 days for cases that were settled

without a hearing). Cases assigned to E-Z Trial were decided in FY 1999 in an average of

166 days. Likewise, in FY 1999, cases that were settled without a trial were processed more

quickly under E-Z Trial --- 97 days as compared to 155 days under the conventional

process.

External Communications Goal: Significantly enhance the efficiency and

effectiveness of communications between the Review Commission and the public, its

customers and other stakeholders.

To date, the agency has:

established a website and has been posting decisions, procedural rules, process

guides, press releases, and other information for ready access by the public and

litigants,

published and widely distributed two user-friendly guides for its Conventional and EZ Trial procedures, and one draft guide for unions and employees,

developed a helpful E-Z Trial video which is provided to small employers litigating

cases before the Review Commission, and completed the initial format redesign of

some decisions, orders and legal documents.

OSHRC has also implemented visual standards for all nonlegal Review Commission

documents, upgraded all printing and reproduction processes and equipment, and made

legal writing training available to most judges and attorneys.

In FY 1999, we published a draft procedural guide describing the role of employees and

labor unions in OSHRC proceedings. Our earlier guides were targeted primarily to

employers. We will continue our efforts to complete the redesign of both judicial and

Commission decisions and improve their readability. We plan to undertake the redesign of

additional legal documents in FY 2000.

In FY 1999, we added Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) and Commission decisions from

earlier years to our website. We have now published decisions on CD-ROM for use by

litigants and depository libraries. In FY 2000, we plan to enhance the website's appearance

and searching capabilities to permit more efficient and meaningful research by the user. The

Review Commission plans to issue two updated CD-ROMs in FY 2000 and we will also

issue a Biennial Report for FYs 1998 and 1999.

In FY 1998, the Review Commission organized the first National Safety and Health

Adjudicator's conference which was attended by 74 state level officials -- review board

commissioners, judges and administrators -- from 19 states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin

Islands. The purpose of the meeting was to study technical topics, share ideas and discuss

common problems; the agenda was based on a survey of potential participants.

In addition, in FY 2001, the Review Commission will survey its customers and stakeholders

to identify and prioritize what the Review Commission needs to improve. The Review

Commission plans to work in coordination with appropriate Federal and state agencies, and

other stakeholders. This exchange of information will be mutually beneficial and will assist

us in learning lessons from the states - the vital laboratories of democracy - to more

effectively enhance our adjudicating responsibilities.

Information Technology Goal: Modernize computer information management systems

to better serve internal and external customers and operate more efficiently.

During the last four years, the Review Commission has (1) obtained computers and
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productivity enhancing software for every employee and begun to upgrade and replace

these as necessary, (2) installed and upgraded a wide area network and an e-mail system

linking all employees in the National Office and the regions, (3) completed a comprehensive

case tracking/case management system, (4) provided technology training to nearly all its

employees, (5) converted many routine paper documents to electronic form, (6) provided a

variety of desktop legal research capabilities to all legal staff, and (7) made Internet

connections available to staff, as needed. This is in stark contrast to the situation in 1994,

when many employees had no computers and those who did were using outdated

equipment and rudimentary software and had no electronic communication capability. The

Review Commission also established a world wide website which receives approximately

20,000 hits per month. As part of our stakeholder survey, OSHRC will obtain input on the

utility of its website.

In FY 1999 the Review Commission continued to improve its internal and external data

communications, enhance its website and fully realize the benefits of its technology. In FY

2000 we replaced the cabling that connects employees to the network in the National

Office. By the end of fiscal year, we will complete migration to a client server environment

in the National Office to increase the speed of case processing, data analysis, and data

transfer. Finally, in FY 2001-2002 we will develop Intranet communications for the national

office and for the regional offices.

The Review Commission has also implemented an automated financial management system

which is replacing the inefficient manual system. It is operational. In conjunction with a

semi annual financial audit (which was done for the first time in Review Commission history

during FY 1997) and which was repeated during FY 1999, this financial system will allow

the Review Commission to better manage its funds, assure the integrity of its financial

processes, and greatly reduce the amount of paper shuffling needed to procure goods and

pay invoices.

Human Resource Management Goal: Build a highly motivated workforce by

developing a first class human resource management system, including highly

effective recruitment, training, awards and performance management processes.

It is an axiom of the workplace that well trained people do a better job. This is the focus of

the Review Commission's Human Resource Management goal. During the past two years,

the Review Commission identified training and development needs for its judges, attorneys,

and other employees, and provided training on significant workplace hazards and decision

writing for legal staff, and extensive computer training for the majority of our staff. In

addition, most judges, all attorneys and most of our other staff have attended other

significant courses related to their job duties and professional competence. For FY 1998, the

Review Commission set a goal of expanding training to achieve an ideal level of annual jobrelated technical training for all employees. That goal was advanced with an average of 34

hours of training per employee, up from 25 hours the previous year. For FYs 1999 and 2000

our goal is 40 hours for each employee. In particular, the Review Commission will provide

additional in-depth safety and health training to attorneys and judges, further case

management training to judges, management training to most supervisors and advanced

evidence, alternative dispute resolution and other technical training to additional judges and

attorneys. As part of this training effort, during FY 2000, the Review Commission will hold

its first three-track training workshop for judges, Commissioners and attorneys, and

administrative and information resource personnel. This workshop will enable the Review

Commission to explore technical and legal topics, technological advances, and develop

plans for its strategic plan.

In FY 1999, we also (1) developed award programs aimed at encouraging creativity and

sustained quality improvements, (2) implemented a family-friendly Flextime program, and (3)

redesigned the appraisal system to emphasize mission performance and strategic plan

objectives. In FY 2000, we implemented the Chairman's Award Program. In FY 2001, we

will develop succession plans, knowledge management strategies, and competency models

for mainstream occupations in the Review Commission. In FY 2001, the Review Co

mmission will also identify, define, and enhance values and create a culture that
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incorporates those values, and create an employee partnership for workplace issues. These

initiatives will assist us in recruiting and retaining a trained, specialized, and highly skilled

workforce.

Lack of Quorum

While we have made progress in improving the operations of the Commission and expect the

progress to continue, there are two critical concerns right now which will affect our FY 2000

performance. The first is that we were without a quorum for several months during FY 1999 which

means that for the appellate portion of our operation, contested motions could not be granted,

cases could not be decided and petitions for interlocutory appeal could not be considered. This

had a negative effect on case productivity and cycle times in FY 1999. With a quorum assured for

FY 2000 (and the fact that we will concentrate on the Commission's review process during the

remainder of the fiscal year), we hope to make steady progress during the year.

Impact of Past Savings

As noted earlier, the Review Commission has already made significant contributions to this

government-wide effort by making changes which in essence reduce our annual operating costs

from what they would have been by nearly three-quarters of a million dollars. We believe it is

noteworthy that, at the same time, we implemented new technology and information systems,

invested in our employees and improved our overall effectiveness. Some examples of major

savings achieved in recent years are:

Lower office rents. By reducing space and renegotiating office rents, we reduced our

space costs by more than $200,000 annually.

Streamlined support staffing. Through automation, process reengineering, and job

restructuring, we cut support positions resulting in an annual savings of $130,000.

Reduced Library expenses. Through careful pruning, we eliminated unnecessary legal

periodicals and reference books from our library, saving more than $40,000 annually from

this area of expense, where annual price increases for renewals have been running 10

percent in recent years.

Regional Office Restructuring. By closing a regional office which was no longer needed,

we are saving at least $140,000 annually in rent, salaries and other expenses.

We have also achieved literally dozens of other small savings in local and long distance phone

services, mail, express delivery services, transcription costs, supplies, reproduction, equipment

maintenance, travel and support services. We will continue to look for ways to achieve additional

cost savings in the future.

Fiscal Year 2001 Request in Detail

As noted earlier, the budget request of $8,720,000 represents a 3 percent increase over the

amount appropriated for FY 2000. As noted earlier, since the President's budget was submitted,

we have renegotiated the rent amounts with GSA. The renegotiations resulted in a savings of

$380,000 in FY 2001. We propose to use these savings to assist the Review Commission in

meeting its goals under the strategic plan of retiring old and complex cases, expediting decision

making on newer cases, and improving services to its customers. A series of employee details and

temporary hires (a total of 3 FTE in FY 2000 and an additional FTE in FY 2001) would be used to

expedite the processing of these old and complex cases. These and temporary employees would

research cases and help process last-in, less complex cases, thereby allowing the more senior

attorneys to handle the more complex cases. The funds would also provide the ability to enhance

our website to include older Review Commission decisions, to improve search capability of cases

on the website, and to provide links to appropriate state sites. We plan to enhance the website's

appearance and searching capabilities to permit more efficient use and more meaningful research

for the user. The Review Commission plans to issue two updated CD-ROMs in FY 2000 and we

will also issue a Biennial Report for FYs 1998 and 1999. Together, direct salary and personnel

benefits costs account for $7,030,000 or 81 percent of the request. We believe that with 14 judges

we will be able to meet the anticipated workload as we continue to reap the benefits of automation,

E-Z Trial, our new settlement program, and other changes.
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Highlights of the FY 2001 budget request, more fully detailed in the attachments, are as follows:

The pay request reflects (1) the payroll and benefit increases due to mandatory cost of living

and locality pay increases, benefit changes and within grade increases, and (2) the fact that

no Commission or judicial vacancies are anticipated in FY 2001. A series of employee

details and temporary hires would be used to expedite the processing of these old and

complex cases.

Office space rent is forecast to cost $750,000, an increase from FY 2000, but below the

$1,140,000 needed in FY 1994, reflecting a variety of agency cost reduction actions

including office closings and savings from our negotiations with GSA.

Judicial travel and transcript costs total $175,000 in FY 2001, a modest increase from the

1999 level as our caseload continues to grow and in anticipation of the potential dual impact

of our new settlement program and airfare increases.

The funds would also provide the ability to enhance our website to include older Review

Commission decisions, to improve search capability of cases on the website, and to provide

links to appropriate state sites.

With fewer staff and greater use of automation and technology, ADP related expenses

including hardware, software and contractual support have become a significant factor in our

budgets.

Although the initial acquisition of ADP equipment for most OSHRC staff will be complete in

FY 2000, OSHRC needs to replace printers and some remaining equipment which are

obsolete and to begin a four-year replacement cycle. We accelerated the purchase of

replacement personal computers in FY 1999 in order to complete the cycle in the year

2000. After FY 2000, we would anticipate replacing desktop and network computers,

software and peripherals on a four-year cycle.

Conclusion

Spending has been pared to the maximum extent possible in every area. Approval of our budget

request will ensure that our ALJs and Commissioners can continue to hear, review and dispose of

cases promptly, and that we can continue our reinvention efforts. Without the needed funding (1)

the number of backlogged cases would increase unacceptably, (2) service to the public would

suffer and (3) our reinvention efforts would stall.

Last Updated: March 27, 2003

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