FREEDOM OF 

INFORMATION ACT

Department of Labor 

Can Improve 

Management of Its 

Program

Report to Congressional Requesters

June 2016

GAO-16-248

United States Government Accountability Office
United States Government Accountability Office

Highlights of GAO-16-248, a report to 

congressional requesters

June 2016

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT

Department of Labor Can Improve Management of Its 

Program

Why GAO Did This Study

FOIA requires federal agencies to 

provide the public with access to 

government information in accordance 

with principles of openness and 

accountability and generally requires

agencies to respond to requests for 

information within 20 working days.

When an agency does not respond or 

a requester disagrees with the 

outcomes of his or her request, the

requester can appeal a decision or file 

a lawsuit against the agency. Like 

other agencies, DOL responds to 

thousands of FOIA requests each year.

In fiscal year 2015, the department

received approximately 16,800

requests.

GAO was asked to review DOL’s FOIA 

processing. GAO’s objectives were to 

determine (1) how the department and 

its components manage and process 

FOIA requests, including how they 

prioritize requests, and the extent that 

responses to requests have been 

timely; and (2) how many lawsuits DOL 

has been subjected to arising from 

FOIA requests, and the results of those 

lawsuits. To do so, GAO reviewed DOL 

reports, policies, guidance, and other 

documentation; analyzed a random 

sample of FOIA requests processed by 

the department in fiscal year 2014;

reviewed FOIA-related legal records;

and interviewed officials.

What GAO Recommends

GAO is recommending, among other 

things, that DOL establish a time frame 

to finalize and issue its updated FOIA 

regulation and take actions to 

implement required and recommended 

system capabilities. In written 

comments on a draft of the report, the 

department agreed with the 

recommendations.

What GAO Found

Responsibilities for managing and processing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

requests are handled by the Department of Labor’s (DOL) 23 component offices. 

Within one of these components, the Office of Information Services (OIS) 

functions as the department’s central FOIA office and has agency-wide 

responsibility for managing the program; however, the department has not 

updated its FOIA regulation to reflect changes in its process made in response to 

more recent amendments to the law and new implementing guidance. DOL uses 

an information technology (IT) system to manage and track requests, but it has 

not implemented key required and recommended capabilities for enhancing FOIA 

processing, such as capabilities to accommodate individuals with disabilities or 

electronic redaction. Implementing the required and recommended capabilities 

could improve the efficiency of the department’s FOIA processing. DOL and its 

components have implemented a process for prioritizing FOIA requests, allowing 

for expedited processing in certain cases, and in fiscal year 2014 the department

processed an estimated 76 percent of requests that GAO reviewed within 20 

working days. For the estimated 24 percent of cases that were not timely, 

officials attributed these delays, in part, to the involvement of multiple 

components in a single request or the time required to process large volumes of 

requested records. However, the department did not document the rationales for 

delays in its FOIA tracking system or notify requesters of them. Further, the 

department had not responded to administrative appeals within the statutory time

frame of 20 working days, but is taking steps to reduce the backlog of appeals.

From January 2005 through December 2014, 68 FOIA-related lawsuits were 

brought against DOL. Of these lawsuits, the court ruled in favor of the 

department in 18 cases, jointly in favor of both the department and the requester 

in 1 case, and in favor of the requesters in 3 cases. In 44 of the remaining 

lawsuits, the department and the requesters established settlement agreements 

that awarded attorney’s fees and other costs to the requesters or resulted in the 

department potentially releasing additional information. A decision on 2 lawsuits 

was undecided as of April 2016 (see figure).

Number and Outcomes of Freedom of Information Act-Related Lawsuits Brought against the 

Department of Labor (DOL), January 2005–December 2014

Although recommended by Department of Justice guidance, the department did 

not notify requesters of mediation services offered by the Office of Government 

Information Services as an alternative to litigation. By doing so, DOL may be able 

to avoid future lawsuits, thus saving resources and ensuring that requesters are 

kept informed about the department’s FOIA process.

View GAO-16-248. For more information, 

contact Valerie C. Melvin at (202) 512-6304 or 

melvinv@gao.gov.
Page i GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

Letter 1

Background 3

DOL and Its Components Have Implemented a Decentralized 

Process to Manage and Prioritize FOIA Requests; However, 

Not All Responses to Requests Have Been Timely 13

DOL Received Sixty-Eight FOIA-Related Lawsuits; Results of 

Lawsuits Varied, and Requesters Were Not Notified of 

Mediation Services as an Alternative to Litigation 30

Conclusions 40

Recommendations for Executive Action 40

Agency Comments and Our Evaluation 41

Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and Methodology 44

Appendix II: Freedom of Information Act Exemptions 50

Appendix III: Department of Labor Stages for Processing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request 51

Appendix IV: Timeliness of Department of Labor Components in Processing Freedom of Information 

Act Requests 55

Appendix V: Comments from the Department of Labor 57

Appendix VI: Comments from the National Archives and Records Administration 60

Appendix VII: GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments 61

Contents
Page ii GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

Tables

Table 1: Department of Labor Components’ Various Missions and 

Types of Records 10

Table 2: Freedom of Information Act Requests Received and 

Processed at the Department of Labor, Fiscal Years 

2010–2015 12

Table 3: Processing Structure, Reported Requests, and Staff for 

Department of Labor Components’ Freedom of 

Information Act Programs, Fiscal Year 2015 18

Table 4: Population Estimates for Timeliness of Department of 

Labor Processing of Fiscal Year 2014 Freedom of 

Information Act Requests 27

Table 5: Outcomes of Freedom of Information Act Lawsuits 

Brought against the Department of Labor (DOL) from 

January 2005–December 2014 31

Table 6: Number of Fiscal Year 2014 Freedom of Information Act 

Requests Sampled from Department of Labor 

Components 46

Table 7: Information Exempt from Disclosure under the Freedom 

of Information Act (FOIA) 50

Table 8: Timeliness of Department of Labor Processing of 

Selected Fiscal Year 2014 Freedom of Information Act 

Requests, by Component 55

Figures

Figure 1: Simplified Overview of the Federal Government’s 

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request and 

Litigation Process 7

Figure 2: Extent to which Department of Labor Implemented 

Recommended Capabilities to Enhance Freedom of 

Information Act Processing 23

Figure 3: Department of Labor Stages for Processing a Freedom 

of Information Act Request 51
Page iii GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

Abbreviations

DOL Department of Labor

FOIA Freedom of Information Act

OIS Office of Information Services

SIMS-FOIA Secretary’s Information Management System for 

FOIA

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Page 1 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

441 G St. N.W.

Washington, DC 20548

June 2, 2016

The Honorable Lamar Alexander

Chairman

Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

United States Senate

The Honorable Ron Johnson

Chairman

Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

United States Senate

The Freedom of Information Act1 (FOIA) requires federal agencies to 

provide the public with access to government information on the basis of 

the principles of openness and accountability in government. Each year, 

federal agencies release information to FOIA requesters that contributes 

to the understanding of government actions, including the disclosure of 

waste, fraud, and abuse.

The Department of Labor (DOL) is one of the many agencies that 

respond to thousands of FOIA requests each year. The department has 

23 component offices2 that receive and process requests for information 

related to various labor issues, such as workers’ compensation, mine 

safety and health, and employee wages. Among these components, the 

department’s Office of the Solicitor also addresses administrative appeals 

when requesters disagree with the outcomes of their requests. Further, 

 1

5 U.S.C. § 552.

2

The Department of Labor administers its Freedom of Information Act program through its 

23 component offices: Adjudicatory Boards, Office of Administrative Law Judges, Office of 

the Assistant Secretary for Policy, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Office of the Chief Financial 

Officer, Employee Benefits Security Administration, Employment and Training 

Administration, Bureau of International Labor Affairs, Mine Safety and Health 

Administration, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration and Management, 

Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs, Office of Disability Employment 

Policy, Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, Office of Inspector General, 

Office of Labor Management Standards, Office of Public Affairs, Office of the Secretary, 

Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Office of Workers’ Compensation 

Programs, Office of the Solicitor, Veterans’ Employment and Training Service, Women’s 

Bureau, and Wage and Hour Division.

Letter
Page 2 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

the department is subject to FOIA litigation for various reasons, such as 

when a request is denied or not responded to within the statutory time 

frame.

For fiscal year 2015, DOL reported that it received approximately 16,800 

FOIA requests and processed approximately 17,100 requests. The 

department also reported that it had a backlog of about 590 unprocessed 

requests and about 400 appeals, and that it spent approximately 

$429,000 on litigating FOIA lawsuits.

You asked us to review DOL’s processing of FOIA requests. Our 

objectives were to determine (1) how DOL and its components manage 

and process FOIA requests, including how they prioritize requests, and 

the extent that responses to requests have been timely; and (2) how 

many lawsuits DOL has been subject to arising from FOIA requests, and 

the results of those lawsuits.

To determine how the department manages and processes FOIA 

requests, we evaluated activities conducted by the department’s central 

FOIA office (the Office of Information Services) and component offices, 

and reviewed directives, procedures, annual FOIA reports, and other 

documentation describing their activities. We reviewed criteria used by 

the central office and components to prioritize requests, assessed current 

procedures and practices against the criteria, and reviewed available 

statistics on FOIA processing timeliness.

We also developed and administered a questionnaire to the 23 

components in June 2015 to facilitate our understanding of how the 

central FOIA office and the components manage, prioritize, and process 

FOIA requests. To ensure that our questions were clear and logical and 

that respondents could answer the questions without undue burden, we 

provided the draft questionnaire to the department’s Office of Information 

Services and obtained and incorporated the office’s comments on the 

questionnaire in advance of sending it to the 23 components. We 

received responses from all of the components.

Further, DOL provided a list of 14,745 FOIA requests that the department 

had received as of October 1, 2013, and had fully processed (closed) by 

September 30, 2014. Of this total, we randomly selected a representative 

sample of 258 FOIA requests. For each request, we determined whether 

the department responded to the request within the 20-day statutory time 

frame. We also reviewed data from the department’s automated FOIA 

tracking system to identify any documentation of delays in processing the 
Page 3 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

requests, reasons for the delays, and any actions taken by the 

department to notify requesters of delays. We supplemented our work 

with interviews of relevant FOIA officials in the central and component 

FOIA offices. The results of our sample are generalizable to the 

population of FOIA requests processed by the department as of 

September 30, 2014.

To identify the nature and outcome of lawsuits arising from FOIA requests 

made to DOL, we reviewed documentation that discussed the 

department’s FOIA litigation and related settlements, and legal decisions 

that occurred from January 2005 through December 2014. Further, we 

reviewed Department of Justice documentation that included a listing of 

DOL’s FOIA litigation cases, attorney costs and fees assessed by the 

courts, and court decisions made from January 2005 through December 

2014. We also interviewed relevant legal counsel and agency officials in 

DOL and the Department of Justice. Additional details on our objectives, 

scope, and methodology are included in appendix I.

We conducted this performance audit from February 2015 to June 2016 

in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. 

Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain 

sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our 

findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe that 

the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings and 

conclusions based on our audit objectives.

FOIA establishes a legal right of access to government information on the 

basis of the principles of openness and accountability in government. 

Before FOIA’s enactment in 1966, an individual seeking access to federal 

records faced the burden of establishing a “need to know” before being 

granted the right to examine a federal record. FOIA established a “right to 

know” standard, under which an organization or person could receive 

access to information held by a federal agency without demonstrating a 

need or reason. The “right to know” standard shifted the burden of proof 

from the individual to a government agency and required the agency to 

provide proper justification when denying a request for access to a 

record.

Any person, defined broadly to include attorneys filing on behalf of an 

individual, corporations, and organizations, can file a FOIA request. For 

example, an attorney can request labor-related workers’ compensation 

files on behalf of his or her client, and a commercial requester, such as a 

Background
Page 4 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

data broker that files a request on behalf of another person, may request 

a copy of a government contract. In response, an agency is required to 

provide the relevant record(s) in any readily producible form or format 

specified by the requester unless the record falls within a permitted 

exemption. (Appendix II describes the nine specific exemptions that can 

be applied to withhold, for example, classified, confidential commercial, 

privileged, privacy, and several types of law enforcement information.) 

The act also requires agencies to publish a regulation that informs the 

public about their FOIA process. The regulation is to include, among other 

things, provisions for expediting requests under certain circumstances.

Over the past two decades, various amendments have been enacted and 

guidance issued to help improve agencies’ processing of FOIA requests. 

The 1996 e-FOIA amendments,3 among other things, sought to 

strengthen the requirement that federal agencies respond to a request in 

a timely manner and reduce their backlogged requests. In this regard, the 

amendments made a number of procedural changes, including providing 

a requester with an opportunity to limit the scope of the request so that it 

can be processed more quickly and requiring agencies to determine 

within 20 working days (an increase from the previously established time 

frame of 10 days) whether a request would be fulfilled.4 The e-FOIA 

amendments also authorized agencies to multi-track requests—that is, to 

process simple and complex requests concurrently on separate tracks to 

facilitate responding to a relatively simple request more quickly. In 

addition, the amendments encouraged online, public access to 

government information by requiring agencies to make specific types of 

records available in electronic form.

 3

Electronic Freedom of Information Act Amendments of 1996, Pub. L. No. 104-231 (Oct. 

2, 1996). 

4

The 20-day time period to respond to a request may be extended beyond 30 days in 

certain circumstances. For example, the agency may notify the person making the request 

that the time limit cannot be met, and provide the person with an opportunity to limit the 

scope of the request so that it may be processed within that time limit or an opportunity to 

arrange with the agency an alternative time frame for processing the request.

FOIA Amendments and 

Guidance Call for 

Improvements in Agencies’ 

Processing of Requests
Page 5 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

In a later effort to reduce agencies’ backlogged FOIA requests, the 

President issued Executive Order 13392 in December 2005,5 which set 

forth a directive for citizen-centered and results-oriented FOIA. In 

particular, the order directed agencies to provide a requester with 

courteous and appropriate service and ways to learn about the FOIA 

process, the status of a request, and the public availability of other 

agency records. The order also instructed agencies to process requests 

efficiently, achieve measurable process improvements (including a 

reduction in the backlog of overdue requests), and reform programs that 

were not producing the appropriate results.

Further, the order directed each agency to designate a senior official as 

the Chief FOIA Officer. This official is responsible for ensuring agencywide compliance with the act by monitoring implementation throughout 

the agency; recommending changes in policies, practices, staffing, and 

funding; and reviewing and reporting on the agency’s performance in 

implementing FOIA to agency heads and to the Department of Justice. 

(These are referred to as Chief FOIA Officer reports.)

The Department of Justice, which has overall responsibility for overseeing 

federal FOIA activities, issued guidance in April 2006 to assist federal 

agencies in implementing the executive order’s requirements for reviews 

and improvement plans. The guidance suggested several potential areas 

for agencies to consider when conducting a review, such as automated 

tracking of requests, automated processing and receipt of requests, 

electronic responses to requests, forms of communication with 

requesters, and systems for handling referrals to other agencies.

The OPEN Government Act,6 which was enacted in 2007, also amended 

FOIA in several ways. For example, it placed the 2005 executive order’s 

requirement for agencies to have Chief FOIA Officers in law. It also 

required agencies to include additional statistics on timeliness in their 

annual reports. In addition, the act called for agencies to establish a 

system to track the status of a request.

 5

Executive Order 13392, Improving Agency Disclosure of Information (Washington, D.C.: 

Dec. 14, 2005). 

6

Openness Promotes Effectiveness in our National Government Act of 2007, Pub. L. No. 

110-175 (Dec. 31, 2007). 
Page 6 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

Further, in January 2009, the President issued two memoranda, 

Transparency and Open Government7 and Freedom of Information Act,8

both of which focused on increasing the amount of information made 

public by the government. In particular, the latter memorandum directed 

agencies to (1) adopt a presumption in favor of disclosure in all FOIA 

decisions, (2) take affirmative steps to make information public, and (3) 

use modern technology to do so. This echoed Congress’s finding, in 

passing the OPEN Government Act, that FOIA established a “strong 

presumption in favor of disclosure.”

In September 2013, the Department of Justice issued guidance to assist 

federal agencies in implementing the memoranda and the OPEN 

Government Act that included procedures for agencies to follow when 

responding to FOIA requests.9 Specifically, the guidance discussed how 

requests are processed—from the point of determining whether an entity 

in receipt of a request is subject to FOIA, to responding to the review of 

an agency’s decision regarding a request on an administrative appeal. 

The guidance also includes procedures on the expedited processing of 

FOIA requests.

Agencies, including DOL, are generally required to respond to a FOIA 

request within 20 working days. A request may be received in writing or 

by electronic means. Once received, the request is processed through 

multiple phases, which include assigning a tracking number, searching for 

responsive records, processing records, and releasing records. Also, as 

relevant, agencies respond to administrative appeals and lawsuits filed as 

a result of their actions and decisions in addressing the FOIA requests. 

Figure 1 provides a simplified overview of the FOIA process, from the 

receipt of a request through responding to a lawsuit.

 7

Presidential Memorandum of Jan. 21, 2009, Transparency and Open Government. 

8

Presidential Memorandum of Jan. 21, 2009, Freedom of Information Act. 

9

Department of Justice Guide to the Freedom of Information Act Procedural Requirements 

(Sept. 4, 2013).
Page 7 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

Figure 1: Simplified Overview of the Federal Government’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request and Litigation Process
Page 8 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

As indicated above, during the intake phase of a typical agency FOIA 

process, a request is to be logged into the agency’s FOIA system and a 

tracking number assigned. The request is then to be reviewed by FOIA 

staff to determine its scope and level of complexity.10 The agency then 

typically sends a letter or e-mail to the requester acknowledging receipt of 

the request, with a unique tracking number that the requester can use to 

check the status of the request, as well as notifying the requester of 

estimated fees, if any.

Next, FOIA staff begin the search to retrieve the responsive records by 

routing the request to the appropriate program office(s).This step may 

include searching and reviewing paper and electronic records from 

multiple locations and program offices.

Agency staff then process the responsive records, which includes 

determining whether a portion or all of any record should be withheld 

based on statutory exemptions.11 If a portion or all of any record is the 

responsibility of another agency, FOIA staff may consult with the other 

agency or may send (“refer”) the document(s) to that other agency for 

processing. After processing and redaction, a request is reviewed for 

errors and to ensure quality. The documents are then released to the 

requester, either electronically or by mail.

FOIA also provides requesters with the right to file an administrative 

appeal if they disagree with the agency’s decision. After an agency 

renders a decision and the requester files an administrative appeal, the 

agency has 20 working days to respond to the requester regarding the 

appeal.

Further, FOIA allows requesters to challenge an agency’s final decision in 

federal court through a lawsuit. Specifically, if any agency fails to comply 

 10Factors that increase the complexity of a request include the volume of information 

involved, the number of offices that might have responsive documents, the extent to which 

the information is technical or difficult to understand, and the need to communicate with 

third parties, such as other agencies or owners of possible proprietary information. 

11Some FOIA requests are closed before reaching this stage, for example, if no 

responsive documents can be found, if all responsive documents originated with another 

agency and were referred to that agency for processing, or if, after being notified of fees, 

the requester is unwilling to pay the estimated fees.
Page 9 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

with the statutory time limits, including responding to requests within 20 

working days, a requester has the right to consider the request denied 

and sue the agency to compel disclosure. A requester should generally 

exhaust his or her administrative remedies, such as filing an 

administrative appeal, before filing a lawsuit.12

In 2007, FOIA was amended to allow both requesters and agencies to 

contact the Office of Government Information Services, within the 

National Archives and Records Administration, to help resolve a dispute 

at any point in the FOIA process, including after filing an administrative 

appeal. Mediation also can be used as an alternative to litigation.13

Established in 1913, DOL has primary responsibility for overseeing the 

nation’s job training programs and for enforcing a variety of federal labor 

laws. The department’s mission is to foster, promote, and develop the 

welfare of wage earners, job seekers, and retirees of the United States; 

improve working conditions; advance opportunities for profitable 

employment; and assure work-related benefits and rights.

The department administers its various mission responsibilities, including 

the processing of FOIA requests, through its 23 component offices. These 

components vary in mission and the types of records that they maintain. 

Table 1 provides details on each component’s mission and types of 

records maintained.

 12The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has held that exhaustion of the 

administrative appeal process is “generally required before filing suit in federal court.” 

Hidalgo v. FBI, 344 F.3d 1256, 1258 (D.C. Cir. 2003) (quoting Oglesby v. U.S. Dep’t of the 

Army, 920 F.2d 57, 61 (D.C. Cir. 1990)).

13The OPEN Government Act, which was enacted in 2007, amended FOIA to establish 

the Office of Government Information Services within the National Archives and Records 

Administration to oversee and assist agencies in implementing FOIA. Among its 

responsibilities, the office offers mediation services to resolve disputes between 

requesters and federal agencies.

DOL and Its Components 

Collect and Maintain 

Records That Can Be 

Subject to FOIA Requests
Page 10 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

Table 1: Department of Labor Components’ Various Missions and Types of Records

Component Mission Types of records

Adjudicatory Boards

Issue legally correct, just, and timely decisions in cases 

including a wide range of worker protection laws

Worker protection such as 

environmental and transportation 

protection

Office of Administrative Law 

Judges 

Give fair and equitable decisions under the governing 

law and the facts of each case 

Black lung benefits and longshore 

workers’ compensation

Office of the Assistant Secretary for 

Policy

Provide advice on matters of policy development, 

program evaluation, regulations, budget, and legislation 

that will improve the lives of workers, retirees, and their 

families

Labor issues including growing wage 

gap for working families

Bureau of Labor Statistics

Collect, analyze, and disseminate essential economic 

information to support public and private decisionmaking

Labor market activity, working 

conditions, and price changes in the 

economy

Office of the Chief Financial Officer

Uphold strong financial management and accountability 

while providing timely, accurate, and reliable financial 

information and enhancing internal control processes

Financial information and internal 

control processes

Employee Benefits Security 

Administration

Safeguard the security of retirement, health, and other 

workplace-related benefits of workers and their families 

Workplace related benefits and 

regulations; Employee Retirement 

Income Security Act filings, 

investigations, and audits

Employment and Training 

Administration

Provide job training, employment, and labor market 

information, and income maintenance services 

primarily through state and local workforce 

development systems

Job training, employment, labor market, 

and income information

Bureau of International Labor 

Affairs

Improve global working conditions, raise living 

standards, protect workers’ ability to exercise their 

rights, and address the workplace exploitation of 

children and other vulnerable populations

Information and reports on global 

working conditions, living standards, 

and exploitation of children and 

vulnerable populations

Mine Safety and Health 

Administration

Promote safe and healthy workplaces for the nation’s 

miners to prevent death, disease, and injury from 

mining Mine safety and health information

Office of the Assistant Secretary for 

Administration and Management

Provide leadership and infrastructure support for 

business operations and procurement, budget and 

finance, information technology, human resources and 

civil rights, security and emergency management, and 

strategic planning 

Department business operations and 

procurement information

Office of Congressional and 

Intergovernmental Affairs

Promote the department to policymakers in federal, 

state, and local governments, and assist the Secretary, 

Deputy Secretary, agency heads, and departmental 

staff in developing effective programs and strategies to 

achieve the department’s legislative goals and 

objectives. 

Information discussing the 

department’s programs as well as 

federal, state, and local labor issues

Office of Disability Employment 

Policy

Develop and influence policies and practices that 

increase the number and quality of employment 

opportunities for people with disabilities

Employment policies and practices 

related to people with disabilities
Page 11 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

Office of Federal Contract 

Compliance Programs

Enforce, for the benefit of applicants and employees, 

the contractual promise of affirmative action and equal 

employment opportunity required of those doing 

business with the federal government

Affirmative action and equal 

employment opportunity information

Office of Inspector General

Provide independent and objective oversight of 

Department’s programs and operations through audits 

and investigations

Investigations and audits related to the 

department’s programs and operations 

Office of Labor Management 

Standards

Administer and enforce most provisions of the LaborManagement Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959, as 

amended, and administer the Civil Service Reform Act 

of 1978 and the Foreign Service Act of 1980 related to 

standards of conduct for federal employee 

organizations

Financial integrity information in labor 

organizations, union records, and union 

officer election investigations

Office of Public Affairs

Provide the Secretary of Labor and department’s 

agencies with advice and guidance on all matters 

pertaining to public affairs Public affairs programs and activities

Office of the Secretary

Foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage 

earners, job seekers, and retirees of the United States; 

improve working conditions; advance opportunities for 

profitable employment; and assure work-related 

benefits and rights

Work-related benefits and rights of 

wage earners, job seekers, and retirees

Occupational Safety and Health 

Administration

Assure safe and healthful working conditions for 

working men and women by setting and enforcing 

standards and by providing training, outreach, 

education and assistance

Records related to workforce accidents 

and death investigations

Office of Workers’ Compensation 

Programs

Protect the interests of workers who are injured or 

become ill on the job, their families, and their 

employers by making timely, appropriate, and accurate 

decisions on claims, providing prompt payment of 

benefits and helping injured workers return to gainful 

work as early as is feasible Workers’ claims and benefits

Office of the Solicitor

Meet the legal service demands of the entire 

Department of Labor

Advice, litigation, and other documents 

related to legal services

Veterans’ Employment and 

Training Service

Provide resources and expertise to assist veterans and 

service members and prepare them to obtain 

meaningful careers, maximize their employment 

opportunities, and protect their employment rights

Employment opportunities and rights 

for veterans and service members

Women’s Bureau

Develop policies and standards and conduct inquiries 

to safeguard the interests of working women

Working conditions, welfare, and 

opportunities for working women

Wage and Hour Division

Promote and achieve compliance with labor standards 

to protect and enhance the welfare of the nation’s 

workforce

Minimum wage and overtime pay 

information

Source: Department of Labor information. | GAO-16-248

DOL experienced an increase in the number of FOIA requests received 

every year from fiscal year 2010 through 2013, a decrease in the number 

of requests received from fiscal year 2013 through 2014, and an increase 

in fiscal year 2015. Specifically, the department reported receiving 17,398 

requests in fiscal year 2010, and it reported receiving 18,755 requests in 
Page 12 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

fiscal year 2013—a 7 percent increase. In fiscal year 2014, the 

department reported receiving 16,106 FOIA requests—a 14 percent 

decrease from fiscal year 2013. However, in fiscal year 2015, the 

reported number of requests received increased again, to 16,792.

Further, the department processed an increased number of requests from 

fiscal years 2010 through 2012. It then processed a decreased number of 

requests during fiscal years 2013 and 2014, and an increased number of 

requests again in fiscal year 2015. Specifically, the department reported 

processing 17,625 requests in fiscal year 2010, and it reported 

processing 19,224 requests in fiscal year 2012—an 8 percent increase. 

While the department processed slightly fewer requests (19,175) in fiscal 

year 2013, it reported processing 16,715 FOIA requests in fiscal year 

2014—a 13 percent decrease compared with fiscal year 2012. However, 

in fiscal year 2015, the reported number of requests processed increased 

to 17,104.

These numbers of requests received and processed, by the department 

from fiscal year 2010 through fiscal year 2015 are summarized in table 2.

Table 2: Freedom of Information Act Requests Received and Processed at the 

Department of Labor, Fiscal Years 2010–2015

Fiscal year Requests received Requests processed

2010 17,398 17,625

2011 18,012 18,129

2012 18,560 19,224

2013 18,755 19,175

2014 16,106 16,715

2015 16,792 17,104

Source: Department of Labor Annual FOIA Reports 2010–2015. | GAO-16-248
Page 13 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

Responsibilities for managing and processing FOIA requests are handled 

by DOL’s 23 component offices. Within one of these components (the 

Office of the Solicitor), the Office of Information Services (OIS) serves as 

the department’s central FOIA office and has agency-wide responsibility 

for managing the program, to include developing and issuing guidance to 

implement FOIA initiatives, providing training, and preparing required 

annual reports. However, DOL has not updated its regulation that is 

intended to inform the public of the department’s FOIA operations. The 

component offices manage their own processing and tracking of FOIA 

requests, relying on an automated system and a process for prioritizing 

their responses to requests, while appeals and lawsuits are centrally 

handled. However, while the department’s automated FOIA tracking 

system meets most statutory requirements, key recommended 

capabilities to enhance processing have not been implemented. In 

addition, while the components had provided timely responses to many of 

the FOIA requests, an estimated 24 percent of the requests were not 

responded to within the statutory time frame and most components had 

not documented the rationale for these delays in the automated FOIA 

tracking system or notified requesters of the delayed responses. Further, 

most FOIA appeals had not been responded to within the statutory time 

frame of 20 working days.

OIS was established within the Office of the Solicitor in fiscal year 2010, 

and the Solicitor serves as the Chief FOIA Officer. OIS is responsible for 

administering the department’s FOIA program, to include coordinating 

and overseeing the components’ operations, providing training, and 

preparing the required annual reports on the department’s FOIA 

performance. In addition, this office has responsibility for processing 

certain types of requests and assisting in the coordination of requests 

involving multiple components.14

In carrying out its duties, the office develops and disseminates guidance 

on processing requests and implementing elements of the act; it also is 

responsible for developing the department’s FOIA regulation (discussed

in more detail later in the report). For example, in October 2010, the office 

 14The Office of Information Services processes requests in instances where the 

department will be providing a consolidated response for records managed by multiple 

components. 

DOL and Its 

Components Have 

Implemented a 

Decentralized 

Process to Manage 

and Prioritize FOIA 

Requests; However, 

Not All Responses to 

Requests Have Been 

Timely

The Office of Information 

Services Provides 

Administrative Support 

and Guidance, but the 

Department Has Not 

Updated Its FOIA 

Regulation
Page 14 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

issued guidance to FOIA disclosure officers and coordinators addressing 

oversight; roles and responsibilities; and applying exemptions, fees, and 

fee waivers. In addition, in June 2013, it issued a bulletin to FOIA 

coordinators regarding steps for addressing requesters’ inquiries about 

requests and discussing the status of requests. A month later, in July 

2013, the office issued a bulletin discussing time limits associated with 

processing requests, including guidance for time limit extensions during 

unusual circumstances. Further, in August 2013, OIS issued best 

practices guidance that provides direction to the department’s staff in 

responding to requests.15 The guidance outlines the nine stages of 

processing a request, as defined by the department, including processing 

administrative appeals and judicial reviews of litigation filed by requesters. 

(Appendix III provides additional details on the stages of the department’s 

process for handling FOIA requests.)

Beyond developing and issuing guidance, OIS performs a number of 

oversight and coordination functions:

• Holds regular meetings with components. The office holds 

quarterly meetings with components to discuss their processing of 

FOIA requests, including plans to reduce backlogs, upcoming training, 

and best practices. For example, in a January 2015, quarterly meeting 

with all components’ FOIA coordinators, OIS discussed its plans to 

conduct administrative reviews covering various areas, such as 

timeliness and backlog reduction, rules associated with granting and 

denying requests, and multi-tracking requests; it also discussed the 

components’ FOIA staffing needs.

• Prepares and Tracks Processing Metrics. The office also uses data 

within the department’s FOIA tracking system—the Secretary’s 

Information Management System for FOIA (SIMS-FOIA)—to provide a 

quarterly report to departmental leadership and the Department of 

Justice on the number of requests received, processed, and 

backlogged, among other reporting requirements. (SIMS-FOIA is 

discussed in greater detail later in this report.)

• Conducts reviews to assess components’ actions. OIS reviews 

components’ FOIA programs to assess their policies, procedures, and 

 15Department of Labor FOIA Best Practices Processing Guide (Aug. 9, 2013).
Page 15 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

compliance with the act. For example, in fiscal year 2015, the office 

reviewed 14 of 2216 components in areas such as FOIA exemptions, 

timeliness and backlog reduction, agency website and electronic 

reading rooms, and staffing resources for processing requests. OIS 

officials stated that they plan to complete reviews of the remaining 8 

components by September 2016. The officials added that they assess 

the information gathered during these reviews to identify areas where 

the components could benefit from additional training and guidance.

• Provides training to employees. The department, through OIS, 

hosts a yearly training conference for employees with FOIA 

responsibilities. This conference addresses topics such as processing

requests, responsibilities for searching for requests, applying 

exemptions, and assessing search fees. In addition, in February 2012, 

February and April 2013, and April 2014, the office held a series of 

targeted training sessions that addressed topics such as FOIA best 

practices in customer service, and applying specific exemptions.

• Routes requests to components. OIS routes to the appropriate 

component(s) those requests sent to DOL via its department-wide email address or that it receives when a requester is unsure which DOL 

component maintains records that are responsive to a request. The 

office also addresses those requests sent to the attention of the 

Solicitor/Chief FOIA Officer. In addition, it coordinates responses to 

requests that involve multiple components.

FOIA requires federal agencies to publish regulations that govern and 

help inform the public of their FOIA operations. These regulations are to 

provide guidance on the procedures to be followed in making a request 

and on specific matters such as fees and expedited processing of 

requests.

Toward this end, in May 2006, DOL, through the Office of the Solicitor, 

issued a regulation describing steps that individuals are required to follow 

in making requests, such as submitting a written request directly to the 

component that maintains the record. The regulations also explained the 

 16OIS did not include the Office of the Solicitor in the scope of its fiscal year 2015 review.

DOL Has Not Updated Its 

Regulation Informing the 

Public of FOIA Operations
Page 16 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

department’s processing of such requests, including charging fees for the 

requested records.17

However, since the issuance of this regulation in 2006, amendments to 

FOIA and related guidance have led to changes in the department’s 

processes that are not reflected in the regulation. These changes pertain 

to the OPEN Government Act of 2007 requirements that federal agencies 

have a FOIA Public Liaison, who is responsible for assisting in resolving 

disputes between the requester and the agency. Further, this act required 

federal agencies to establish a system to provide individualized tracking 

numbers for requests that will take longer than 10 days to process and 

establish telephone or Internet service to allow requesters to track the 

status of their requests. In addition, the President’s FOIA memorandum 

on transparency and open government and the Attorney General’s FOIA 

guidelines of 2009 required that agencies take specific actions to ensure 

that the government is more transparent, participatory, and collaborative. 

Specifically, agencies are required to rapidly disclose information; 

increase opportunities for the public to participate in policymaking; and 

use innovative tools, methods, and systems to cooperate among 

themselves and across all levels of government.

The department has taken actions consistent with these requirements. 

Specifically, in 2006, DOL implemented its SIMS-FOIA system to track 

and process requests. Further, the department implemented its FOIA 

public portal, which links to SIMS-FOIA and allows requesters to track the 

status of their requests through an Internet service using assigned 

request tracking numbers. The department also designated a FOIA Public 

Liaison in December 2007. Additionally, in response to the President’s 

FOIA memorandum and the Attorney General’s FOIA guidelines of 2009, 

the department in December 201118 directed all components to ensure 

transparency when responding to requests by not only disclosing 

information that the act requires to be disclosed, but also by making 

discretionary disclosures of information that will not result in foreseeable 

harm to an interest protected under FOIA.

 1729 C.F.R. Part 70.

18DOL Memorandum for FOIA Coordinators, FOIA Disclosure Officers, and SOL FOIA 

Advisor: Revised Guidance on Implementing FOIA at the Department of Labor—Making 

Discretionary Disclosures (Dec. 9, 2011).
Page 17 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

Nevertheless, while it has taken these actions, DOL has not revised its 

FOIA regulation to inform the public of the role of its public liaison, the 

department FOIA tracking system, and the availability of the FOIA public 

portal for tracking the status of requests. In discussing this matter, 

officials in the Office of the Solicitor stated that updating the regulation is 

on the department’s regulatory agenda and that, as of March 2016, a 

draft of the regulation was being circulated for internal review. However, 

these officials said they had not established a time frame for when the 

regulation would be finalized. Until the department finalizes an updated 

regulation reflecting changes in how it processes requests, it will lack an 

important mechanism for facilitating effective interaction with the public on 

the handling of FOIA requests.

The processing of requests is decentralized among the department’s 23 

components, with each component separately administering its own 

program. In this regard, each component has its own FOIA coordinator 

and full- and/or part-time staff assigned to process requests; is 

responsible for its FOIA library;19 and directly enters information in the 

department’s FOIA tracking system regarding the processing of its own 

requests. Similar to the process used across federal government, once a 

request has been received and assigned to the appropriate component, 

the component carries out the processing, tracking, and reporting on the 

request. Most components do so using the department’s central FOIA 

tracking system.

However, the components vary in aspects of their operations. For 

example, a number of the components are further decentralized, in which 

requests are assigned to and processed within multiple national, regional, 

and/or directorate offices (subcomponents) that make up the component. 

Specifically, once a request is received in a decentralized office, the FOIA 

processor located in the appropriate subcomponent office is responsible 

for responding to the request and populating the required information in 

 19FOIA requires agencies to make certain categories of records available to the public for 

“inspection and copying.” Traditionally, most agencies had established physical reading 

rooms, where the public could have access to these records. However, the e-FOIA 

amendments of 1996 required agencies to post this information online, and as a result, 

some agencies have phased out their physical reading rooms and established online 

reading rooms (now known as FOIA Libraries).

DOL Components Are 

Separately Responsible 

for Processing and 

Tracking FOIA Requests
Page 18 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

the department’s central tracking system. Other components are 

centralized, in which the processing of requests occurs within that one 

office and does not have to be assigned to a subcomponent office.

Components also vary significantly in the number of requests received. 

For example, in fiscal year 2015, the Occupational Safety and Health 

Administration received 9,123 requests, while the Office of the Chief 

Financial Officer received 3 requests. Further, the components rely on 

varying numbers of full-time employees, as well as part-time and 

contractor employees, to manage and process the requests.20 For 

example, the Employment and Training Administration reported that it had 

8 full-time employees and 9 part-time employees in fiscal year 2015. On 

the other hand, the Employee Benefits Security Administration reported it 

had no full-time employees and 3 part-time employees in the same year. 

Collectively, for fiscal year 2015, the 23 components reported having 40 

full-time and about 154 full-time or part-time employees assigned to 

process FOIA requests.

Table 3 summarizes the components processing structure, requests 

received in fiscal year 2015, and the number of employees that manage 

and process the requests.

Table 3: Processing Structure, Reported Requests, and Staff for Department of Labor Components’ Freedom of Information 

Act Programs, Fiscal Year 2015 

Component

Processing 

structure

Number of FOIA 

requests 

received

Number of fulltime FOIA 

employees

Part time FOIA 

employees (fulltime equivalent)a

Total full-time 

and full-time 

equivalent 

employees that 

help process 

FOIA requests

Occupational Safety and Health 

Administration Decentralized 9,123 5 95.0 100.0

Wage and Hour Division Decentralized 2,726 6 .9 6.9

Employment and Training Administration Centralized 1,649 8 9.4 17.4

Mine Safety and Health Administration Decentralized 1,300 5 23.1 28.1

 20For purposes of the FOIA Annual Report, Department of Justice advises agencies, 

including Labor, to combine part-time and contractor employees to produce the number of 

full-time equivalent FOIA employees.
Page 19 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

Employee Benefits Security Administration Decentralized 507 0 3.1 3.1

Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs Decentralized 430 2 2.3 4.3

Office of Federal Contract Compliance 

Programs Centralized 183 1 5.6 6.6

Office of the Assistant Secretary for 

Administration and Management Decentralized 169 0 4.9 4.9

Veterans’ Employment and Training Service Decentralized 144 1 .4 1.4

Office of Administrative Law Judges Decentralized 121 0 1 1

Office of Labor Management Standards Centralized 91 0 1 1

Office of Inspector General Centralized 83 1 0 1

Office of the Secretary Centralized 55 0 .3 0.3

Office of the Solicitor Decentralized 53 11 4.1 15.1

Bureau of Labor Statistics Centralized 38 0 0.4 0.4

Adjudicatory Boards Centralized 32 0 .5 0.5

Office of Congressional and 

Intergovernmental Affairs Centralized 29 0 .5 0.5

Office of Public Affairs Centralized 18 0 0.5 0.5

Bureau of International Labor Affairs Centralized 13 0 0.1 0.1

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy Centralized 11 0 0.5 0.5

Women’s Bureau Centralized 7 0 .3 0.3

Office of Disability Employment Policy Centralized 7 0 0.1 0.1

Office of the Chief Financial Officer Centralized 3 0 0.3 0.3

Totals 16,792 40 154.0 194.0

Source: GAO analysis of DOL data and the DOL 2015 Annual FOIA Report. | GAO-16-248.

a

These include part-time employees who perform FOIA duties or full-time employees who perform 

FOIA duties less than 100 percent of the time. Hours worked by these employees are expressed in 

terms of the equivalent number of full-time employees.

While requests are separately handled by the components, within the 

Office of the Solicitor two offices—the Counsel for FOIA Appeals, Federal 

Records Act, and Paperwork Reduction Act and the Counsel for FOIA 

and Information Law —individually handle FOIA appeals and FOIA 

lawsuits. The Counsel for FOIA Appeals, Federal Records Act, and 

Paperwork Reduction Act is responsible for addressing administrative 

appeals when requesters disagree with the outcomes of their requests. 

To assist with tracking the appeals it receives, the office uses an 

automated system called the Matter Management System. Further, the 

Counsel for FOIA and Information Law is responsible for providing legal 

advice on processing requests and defending FOIA litigation.
Page 20 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

Various FOIA amendments and guidance call for agencies, such as DOL, 

to use automated systems to improve the processing and management of 

requests. In particular, the OPEN Government Act of 2007 amended 

FOIA to require that federal agencies establish a system to provide 

individualized tracking numbers for requests that will take longer than 10 

days to process and establish telephone or Internet service to allow 

requesters to track the status of their requests. Further, the President’s 

January 2009 Freedom of Information Act memo instructed agencies to 

use modern technology to inform citizens about what is known and done 

by their government. In addition, FOIA processing systems, like all 

automated information technology systems, are to comply with the 

requirements of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (as amended). This 

act requires federal agencies to make their electronic information 

accessible to people with disabilities.21

In accordance with the OPEN Government Act, DOL has implemented 

SIMS-FOIA to assist the department in tracking the requests received and 

processed.22 The system assigns unique tracking numbers for each 

request received, and tracks and measures the timeliness of the 

requests. Further, staff who process requests are able to include in the 

system the date the request was received by the first component that may 

be responsible for processing the request and the date the request was

routed to and received by the appropriate component responsible for 

processing the request. Based on this information, the system then 

calculates the date by which the response is due to the requester, which 

is 20 working days from the date the request was received by the office 

responsible for its processing.

In responding to our questionnaire, 22 of 23 components reported using 

SIMS-FOIA and provided documentation to demonstrate their use of the 

system to track requests. Due to its independent oversight role within the 

department, DOL’s Office of Inspector General stated that it does not use 

this system to track its requests. According to its FOIA Officer, the office 

has instead created a separate system that is similar to SIMS-FOIA—the 

Office of Inspector General FOIA Tracking System—to track its requests.

 2129 U.S.C. § 794d.

22Department of Labor components were required to use the Secretary’s Information 

Management System for FOIA (SIMS-FOIA) by December 2008.

DOL’s FOIA Tracking 

System Meets Most 

Statutory Requirements, 

but Not All Key 

Recommended 

Capabilities to Enhance 

Processing Have Been 

Implemented
Page 21 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

Further, in accordance with the act, DOL implemented its FOIA public 

portal that links to SIMS-FOIA and allows requesters to track the status of 

their requests through an Internet service using assigned request tracking 

numbers. Specifically, requesters can access the public portal via the 

DOL website (http://www.dol.gov/foia) to obtain the status of their 

requests. The information provided by the portal includes dates on which 

the agency received the requests and estimated dates on which the 

agency expects to complete action on the requests.

Nevertheless, while the department has taken these actions, it has not 

ensured that SIMS-FOIA and the online portal are compliant with 

requirements of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. According to DOL 

officials in OIS, during a test performed by the department’s Office of 

Public Affairs, the online portal was determined to have accessibility 

issues. Specifically, the portal could not be easily accessed by those who 

were blind or had impaired vision. In addition, the 508 compliance tester 

in the department’s Office of the Chief Information Officer found that 

SIMS-FOIA was not accessible to vision impaired employees who need to 

use the system.

With regard to this finding, the Office of the Chief Information Officer 

determined that, because the system is only used internally by DOL 

employees, it would fulfill the requirements of Section 508 by providing 

reasonable accommodations, such as large screen magnifiers and verbal 

description tools, to those affected employees needing access to the 

information contained in SIMS-FOIA. According to the Office of the Chief 

Information Officer, accommodations would be made on a case-by-case 

basis to address the employee’s specific needs. 

Further, OIS officials told us that the department is working to make the 

online portal and SIMS-FOIA compliant with the requirements of Section 

508. However, OIS officials could not say by what date compliance with 

the requirements is expected to be achieved. Having systems that are 

compliant with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (as amended) is 

essential to ensure that the department’s electronic information is 

accessible to all individuals, including those with disabilities.

Beyond the requirements provided in law and guidance to develop 

automated systems to track FOIA requests, three federal agencies have 

collectively identified capabilities for systems that they consider to be best 

practices for FOIA processing. Specifically, in conjunction with the 

Department of Commerce and the Environmental Protection Agency, the 

National Archives and Records Administration’s Office of Government 
Page 22 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

Information Services identified the following 12 capabilities of an 

automated system that it considers recommended best practices for FOIA 

processing:

• using a single, component-wide system for tracking requests;

• accepting the request online, either through e-mail or online request 

form;

• multi-tracking requests electronically;

• routing requests to the responsible office electronically;

• storing and routing responsive records to the appropriate office 

electronically;

• redacting responsive records with appropriate exemptions applied 

electronically;

• calculating and recording processing fees electronically;

• allowing supervisors to review the case file to approve redactions and 

fee calculations for processing electronically;

• generating system correspondence, such as an e-mail or letter, with a 

requester;

• tracking appeals electronically;

• generating periodic reporting statistics, such as annual report and 

quarterly backlog data, used to develop reports; and

• storing and routing correspondence, such as letters or e-mails 

between agencies and requesters.

As of March 2016, DOL had implemented 7 of the 12 recommended best 

practices for SIMS-FOIA and the FOIA public portal. Specifically, the 

department had implemented the capabilities of a single tracking system, 

as well as capabilities for accepting requests through e-mail; multitracking requests; routing the request to the office responsible for 

processing the request; storing and routing correspondence with a 

requester; and generating periodic report statistics, such as the fiscal year 

FOIA annual report and quarterly report, that identify requests received, 

processed, and backlogged. In addition, as mentioned earlier, the 

department uses a separate FOIA appeals tracking system—the Matter 

Management System—to track appeals electronically.

However, the department had not implemented 4 other recommended 

capabilities, and had partially implemented 1 capability. Specifically, the 
Page 23 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

department’s automated FOIA tracking system lacked capabilities to store 

and route responsive records electronically, redact responsive records 

electronically, and review the case file to approve redactions and fee 

calculations electronically. Further, the department had not implemented 

the capability to generate correspondence to a requester. In addition, 

SIMS-FOIA partially included the recommended capability to calculate 

and record processing fees electronically. Specifically, the system could 

record fees electronically, but it could not calculate fees electronically.

Figure 2 illustrates the extent to which DOL had implemented 

recommended capabilities to enhance FOIA processing.

Figure 2: Extent to which Department of Labor Implemented Recommended Capabilities to Enhance Freedom of Information 

Act Processing
Page 24 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

In discussing this matter, the OIS director and FOIA officials in the 

component offices stated that, since the current system generally meets 

statutory requirements, the department has not yet made improvements 

to the system to reflect the recommended capabilities. The officials said 

that they are aware of current system limitations and have begun 

researching various technologies to incorporate the remaining 

capabilities. Nevertheless, the officials said that, due to competing 

interests and resource needs, the department has made a decision to 

continue using SIMS-FOIA without these capabilities in the meantime. 

The officials did not provide a time frame for when the capabilities would 

be implemented. By implementing the additional recommended 

capabilities, the department has the opportunity to enhance its FOIA 

processing and, thus, improve the efficiency with which it can respond to 

information requests.

The FOIA statute allows agencies to establish multi-track processing of 

requests for records based on the amount of work or time (or both) 

involved in processing requests. Toward this end, DOL’s FOIA regulation, 

supported by the department’s Best Practices Processing Guide, provides 

for prioritizing FOIA requests into three processing tracks: simple, 

complex, and expedited.

According to the regulation and guide, although requests are generally 

required to be handled on a first-in, first-out basis, a component may use 

two or more processing tracks by distinguishing between simple and 

more complex23 requests, based on the amount of work and/or time 

needed to process the requests. This is intended to allow the component 

to use its discretion to process simple, more manageable requests 

quickly, while taking more time to process larger, more complex requests 

that involve a voluminous amount of records and/or multiple components.

Also, according to the regulation and the guide, the component is to 

determine whether a request should be given expedited treatment and 

placed in an expedited track ahead of others already pending in the 

 23Complex requests are requests that involve voluminous amount of records, various 

offices that might have responsive documents, information that is technical or difficult to 

understand, and the need to communicate with third parties, such as other agencies or 

owners of possible proprietary information. 

DOL and Its Components 

Prioritize FOIA Requests 

by Assigning Them to One 

of Three Processing 

Tracks
Page 25 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

processing queue, whenever it determines that one of the following 

conditions is met:

• There is an imminent threat to the life or physical safety of an 

individual.

• There is an urgent need to inform the public about an actual or 

alleged government activity and the requester is someone primarily 

engaged in the dissemination of information.

• Failure to disclose the requested records expeditiously will result in 

substantial loss of due process rights.

• The records sought relate to matters of widespread news interest that 

involve possible questions about the government’s integrity.

Further, the regulation and guide state that the requester can submit a 

request for expedited processing at the time of the initial request or at any 

later time during the processing of the request. The component is to grant 

the request for expedited processing when the requester explains in detail 

the basis for the need to expedite the request and demonstrates a 

compelling need based on the criteria described above. Upon receiving a 

request for expedited processing, the component is responsible for 

deciding whether the request is to be expedited and for notifying the 

requester of the final decision within 10 calendar days.

The guide states that, when a request is submitted, the component’s 

FOIA staff must identify the processing track to which it will be assigned 

(i.e., simple, complex, or expedited). According to OIS officials, the 

component FOIA processors assess whether requests are simple or 

complex based on their experience in handling requests and familiarity 

with requests that are submitted routinely. Further, according to the guide, 

FOIA processors assess whether requests are to be given expedited 

treatment whenever they determine that requests demonstrate a 

compelling need, such as when they pertain to an imminent threat to the 

life or physical safety of an individual.

All of the components had taken steps that followed the regulation and 

best practices guidance to prioritize the selected fiscal year 2014 FOIA 

requests. That is, as the components’ FOIA processors logged in the 

requests, they assigned them to one of the three processing tracks. With 

the exception of the Office of the Inspector General, the components 

used SIMS-FOIA to designate the processing track for the requests. The 

OIG used its Office of Inspector General FOIA Tracking System to 

designate the processing track for requests.
Page 26 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

In addition, 7 of the 23 components provided documentation describing 

additional component-specific actions that they had taken to help with 

prioritizing the requests. For example:

• The Veterans’ Employment and Training Service developed a 

standard operating procedure that includes steps for multi-track 

processing. Specifically, this component places its simple requests in 

its fastest (non-expedited) track, and places its complex requests in its 

slowest track.

• The Wage and Hour Division provided its subcomponents with 

guidance issued in September 2015 that includes criteria for selecting 

a processing track in SIMS-FOIA. Specifically, according to this 

guidance, a request will be designated as complex when it requires 

redactions, involves two or more offices or programs to provide 

records, includes the review of 100 or more pages, or requires a 

search and review of over 10 hours, among other things. A request is 

designated as simple when it requires no redactions; involves 1 office 

or program; requires a review of 99 pages or less and fewer than 9.5 

hours of searching; and when responsive records can be easily 

located on DOL’s FOIA website. Further, the guidance states that all 

expedited requests must be approved by the component.

• The Mine Safety and Health Administration developed standard 

operating procedures in March 2012 that include instructions for its 

subcomponents to follow when tracking requests in SIMS-FOIA and 

requiring its field offices to notify its headquarters office prior to 

denying an expedited FOIA request.

Of the 16,792 requests that the department reported receiving in fiscal 

year 2015, the components prioritized and processed 7,203 simple 

requests (about 42 percent of the total requests processed), 9,785 

complex requests (about 57 percent), and 108 expedited requests (less 

than 1 percent).
Page 27 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

As previously discussed, FOIA requires agencies to make a 

determination on whether to comply with a request generally within 20 

working days of receiving the request and to immediately notify the 

requester of their determination. Toward this end, agencies are required 

to route misdirected requests to the internal component or office 

responsible for processing them within 10 working days of receipt. DOL’s 

Best Practices guide also recommends that components notify the 

requester when the need to consult with another component will delay a 

timely response to the initial FOIA request. SIMS-FOIA provides optional 

fields allowing components to record the fact that they sent the requester 

an acknowledgment or other interim response, or add other comments or 

explanations that caused a delay.

Of the 14,745 requests processed by the department between October 1,

2013, and September 30, 2014, components successfully routed an 

estimated 92 percent of requests to the appropriate component offices 

within the 10-day time frame, as required by FOIA. However, an 

estimated 8 percent of requests were not routed to the appropriate offices 

within 10 days. Further, the components processed an estimated 76 

percent of the requests within the statutory time frame of 20 working 

days. Table 4 shows the overall estimate of timeliness in responding to 

the population of 14,745 FOIA requests for the department in fiscal year 

2014, and appendix IV provides further details on the department’s 

timeliness in processing FOIA requests from our sample of 258 requests.

Table 4: Population Estimates for Timeliness of Department of Labor Processing of 

Fiscal Year 2014 Freedom of Information Act Requests

Measure of timeliness Population estimate

Total Simple Complex

Percentage of requests allocated 

within 10 Days 92% 94% 90%

Percentage of requests processed 

within 20 Days 76% 75% 77%

Source: GAO analysis of Department of Labor data. | GAO-16-248

The department did not respond to the requester within the 20-day time 

frame for the remaining estimated 24 percent of requests processed, as 

reflected in the following examples:

• Although the Office of Information Services routed 2 out of 3 selected 

requests to the appropriate component (the Office of Assistant 

Secretary for Policy) within 10 days, one request was initially assigned 

DOL Components Are 

Responding to Most FOIA 

Requests within the 

Statutory Time Frame, but 

Are Not Consistently 

Documenting the 

Rationale for and Notifying 

Requesters of Delays
Page 28 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

to the wrong component (the Employment and Training 

Administration). Once the Office of Assistant Secretary for Policy

received the request, it took 315 days to process the request and 

provide the records to the requester.

• The Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs responded 

to FOIA requesters within the required 20 days for 3 of 10 selected 

requests. For one request, the component took 154 days (about 5 

months) to provide the requester with a response. Specifically, the 

request was received by the original office and was routed within 10 

days, as required by law, to the office responsible for processing the 

request. However, it took the office that was responsible for 

processing the request 154 days to provide the response to the 

requester.

• The Office of the Secretary responded to FOIA requesters within the 

required 20 days for 3 out of 10 selected requests. In one instance, 

the component that was responsible for processing the request took 

67 days, or over 2 months, to respond to the requester. Specifically, 

the department received the request in May 2014 and it was 

forwarded to the Office of the Secretary on the same day. However, 

because of the complex nature of the request, the Office of the 

Secretary had to coordinate with 6 other components, resulting in a 

delayed response to the requester.

For the estimated 8 percent of requests that were not sent to the 

appropriate office within 10 days and the estimated 24 percent for which 

there were not timely responses to the requesters, the components did 

not document the rationales for the delays in SIMS-FOIA or notify the 

requesters of the delays. Agency officials attributed the delays to multiple 

components and subcomponents processing various parts of a request, 

as well as the time required to search for, review, and redact the 

exempted information from large volumes of records. In addition, DOL’s 

FOIA Public Liaison explained that SIMS-FOIA only identifies the tracking 

numbers for the 10 oldest requests, and if the case does not fall within the 

10 oldest requests, then the FOIA staff may not be able to find and 

provide a rationale for the delay. In addition, the liaison noted that there is 

no DOL requirement for staff to document the rationale for the delays in 

SIMS-FOIA and to notify requesters regarding delayed responses. 

However, the system allows the user the option to record the rationale. 

Without documenting the rationale for the delays and notifying FOIA 

requesters regarding delayed responses, however, the department lacks 
Page 29 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

the means to ensure that requesters are kept abreast of the status of their 

FOIA requests.

According to DOL’s FOIA regulation, after an agency responds to a 

request, the requester has the right to file an administrative appeal within 

90 days if she or he disagrees with the agency’s decision. Agencies are 

then required to respond to the requester with a decision regarding the 

administrative appeal within 20 working days.

According to DOL’s 2015 FOIA Annual Report, in fiscal year 2015, the 

department received 404 appeals and processed 297. In addition, the 

department reported that it had not responded to appeals within the 

statutory time frame of 20 working days, thus contributing to 405 

backlogged appeals at the department. DOL officials in the office of the 

Counsel for FOIA Appeals, Federal Records Act, and Paperwork 

Reduction Act—the office responsible for processing administrative 

appeals—noted that the high number of unprocessed appeals was due to 

a substantial increase in the number of incoming FOIA appeals received 

and a decrease in the number of staff available to process the appeals. 

Specifically, the number of attorneys available to process FOIA appeals 

decreased from 3 attorneys to 1 from 2012 through June 2015, while the 

number of backlogged appeals increased from 139 to 405 within the 

same period of time.

In its technical comments on a draft of this report, DOL stated that it had 

taken various actions to reduce backlogged appeals. Specifically, it stated 

that DOL staff from other agency components had been detailed to assist 

with processing appeals. Further, similar appeals were grouped together 

to provide a response and staff communicated with requesters about the 

scope of their appeals or their continued interest in records. In addition,

FOIA appeals were assigned to new attorneys in a specialized honors

program,

24 and the department hired an additional attorney to address the 

appeals.

 24According to the DOL website, the Honors Program in the Office of the Solicitor at DOL 

provides professional opportunities for outstanding law school graduates. Honors Program 

attorneys work in the Solicitor's Office either at the department's headquarters in 

Washington, D.C., or in one of seven regional offices, gaining exposure to a range of legal 

work in one of the government's legal offices. 

Most FOIA Appeals Are 

Not Processed Within the 

Statutory 20-Day Time 

Frame
Page 30 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

Continuing to take such steps to reduce the number of backlogged 

appeals will be important to help ensure that the department is able to 

meet its statutory obligation to respond to appeals within 20 working days. 

Furthermore, by continuing to address its appeals backlog, the 

department may reduce the likelihood that lawsuits will be filed due to 

requesters not receiving responses to their administrative appeals (such 

as discussed later in this report).

From January 2005 through December 2014, 68 FOIA-related lawsuits 

were filed against DOL, primarily as a result of the department either 

failing to respond to requests or because it withheld certain requested 

information based on exemptions. Court decisions on these lawsuits were 

mixed—with rulings being made in favor of the department, both for the 

department and the requester, and in favor of the requester. In addition, 

some lawsuits were settled with agreement to release information and/or 

to award attorney’s fees and court costs to the requester. Among these 

settlements, courts dismissed the majority of the lawsuits based on terms 

agreed to by the department and the requester. While Department of 

Justice guidance issued in July 2010 encourages agencies to notify 

requesters of available mediation services as an alternative to pursuing 

litigation, DOL had not taken steps to inform requesters of such services. 

Doing so could help prevent requesters and the department from being 

involved in costly litigation and improve the efficiency of FOIA-processing 

activities.

As previously mentioned, FOIA allows a requester to challenge an 

agency’s final decision in federal court through a lawsuit or to treat an 

agency’s failure to respond within the statutory time frames as a denial of 

the request, in order to file a lawsuit. In addition, the act states that the 

court may assess against the government reasonable attorney’s fees and 

other litigation costs incurred in a FOIA lawsuit if the requester has 

obtained relief through either (1) a judicial order, or an enforceable written 

agreement or consent decree; or (2) a voluntary or unilateral change in 

position by the agency, if the complainant’s claim is not insubstantial.

The 68 lawsuits were brought against DOL because it either did not 

provide a timely response to a FOIA request, or because the requester 

disagreed with DOL’s response, usually as a result of the department 

having withheld records. Of these lawsuits, the court ruled in favor of the 

department in 18 cases, and jointly in favor of both the department and 

DOL Received SixtyEight FOIA-Related 

Lawsuits; Results of 

Lawsuits Varied, and 

Requesters Were Not 

Notified of Mediation 

Services as an 

Alternative to 

Litigation

Results of Lawsuits Varied 

among Cases Litigated
Page 31 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

the requester in 1 case. In addition, among 47 lawsuits, the requesters 

received relief either as a result of (1) the courts rendering decisions in

favor of the requesters (3 lawsuits) or (2) the department and the 

requesters establishing settlement agreements that awarded attorney’s 

fees and other costs to the requesters or resulted in the department 

potentially releasing additional information (44 lawsuits). Two lawsuits 

were undecided as of April 2016.

Table 5 summarizes the outcomes of the 68 lawsuits, and the discussion 

that follows presents examples of the lawsuits filed and the decisions 

rendered.

Table 5: Outcomes of Freedom of Information Act Lawsuits Brought against the 

Department of Labor (DOL) from January 2005–December 2014

Outcome of lawsuit Number of decisions

Court Rendered Decisions

In favor of DOL 18

In favor of DOL and the requester 1

In favor of requester 3

Lawsuits settled 44

Undecided 2

Total lawsuits filed 68

Source: GAO analysis of lawsuit documentation. | GAO-16-248.

In Favor of DOL

Of the 18 lawsuits decided in favor of DOL, 7 were filed because the 

department did not respond to the initial FOIA request or administrative 

appeal. The other 11 were due to requesters disagreeing with DOL’s 

decision not to release information, or the requesters asking for more 

information than was originally released. In these cases, the department 

may have applied certain exemptions to withhold documents (see 

appendix II for the nine specific categories that exempt an agency from 

disclosing information).The following examples describe these lawsuits:

• One lawsuit was filed because a requester had asked for records 

related to being terminated by his employer for refusing to work under 

alleged unsafe and illegal conditions that violated the Federal Mine 

Safety and Health Act of 1977. However, the Mine Safety and Health 

Administration withheld information based on the exemptions related 

Court Decisions Rendered
Page 32 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

to interagency or intra-agency memorandums that are not available by 

law to a party other than an agency in litigation with that agency, for 

law enforcement purposes related to unwarranted invasion of 

personal privacy, and disclosing the identity of a confidential source. 

In October 2004, the requester submitted an administrative appeal in 

response to the decision. Five months after DOL’s acknowledgement 

of the administrative appeal, the requester had not received a 

response and thus filed a lawsuit in March 2005. In deciding in favor 

of DOL, the court upheld the department’s use of the exemptions to 

withhold information.

• As the basis for another lawsuit, a request was initially submitted for a 

Mine Safety and Health Administration investigation report. The 

department released only a portion of the requested records. In 

February 2009, the requester filed an administrative appeal. In 

November 2009, DOL released additional information and withheld 

information citing the law enforcement privacy and interagency and 

intra-agency memorandums or letters exemptions. The requester 

disagreed with the department’s final decision to withhold information 

and filed a lawsuit in July 2010. The court upheld the department’s 

decision.

• One lawsuit involved eight requesters seeking information related to 

the functionality of an Office of Workers’ Compensation Program 

computer program that is used to ensure consistent rotation among 

physicians by specific zip codes. The Office of Workers’ 

Compensation Program withheld information based on an exemption 

regarding confidential commercial information and the exemption 

related to an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. All eight 

requesters filed separate administrative appeals from December 2009 

through November 2012, to which the department did not respond. As 

a result, the eight requesters filed a joint lawsuit in July 2013.The 

court decided in favor of the department’s decision to not disclose the 

information due to the exemptions cited.

• In April 2009, records were requested related to the activities and 

communications between the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of 

Labor and various labor organizations. In late April 2009, DOL 

acknowledged receipt of the FOIA request, but decided that it would 

not provide information. In late September 2009, the requester filed an 

administrative appeal. Over a month later, in early November, DOL 

confirmed receipt of the administrative appeal but, again, did not 

provide information. By late November 2009, the requester had not 

received any information or requests for a time extension from the 

department and filed a legal complaint. The court decided in favor of 
Page 33 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

the department, finding that it had properly withheld information on the 

basis of several exemptions.

In Favor of DOL and the Requester

One lawsuit—filed because the department withheld certain information 

and did not respond to the administrative appeal—was ruled both in favor 

of DOL and in favor of the requester. As a result, additional information 

was released to the requester. Specifically, in November 2007, a 

requester asked the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to 

provide accident investigation information related to a fatal accident. The 

Occupational Safety and Health Administration responded to the initial

request by providing over 100 pages of documentation, but it withheld 

other documentation, applying the personnel and medical information 

exemption. In February 2008, the requester filed an administrative 

appeal. By February 2009, over a year later, DOL had not responded to 

the administrative appeal and the requester filed a lawsuit. In March 

2010, the court decided in part for the department and in part for the 

requester. DOL was required to disclose portions of witness statements 

that were previously redacted; however, the court determined that the 

department could apply an exemption to additional records to withhold 

specific law enforcement information.

In Favor of the Requester

For 3 lawsuits, the requesters received relief as a result of the courts 

rendering decisions in their favor.

• In March 2005, records were requested from the Occupational Safety 

and Health Administration regarding the 2003 “Lost Work Day Illness 

and Injury Rates” for all worksites that had the Standard Industrial 

Classification code of 80.25 In prior years, the Occupational Safety 

and Health Administration had provided these records to requesters 

for previous reporting periods. However, the Occupational Safety and 

Health Administration denied this request, stating that releasing the 

information would interfere with law enforcement proceedings. In May 

 25The Occupational Safety and Health Administration defines the Standard Industrial 

Code of 80 to include establishments primarily engaged in furnishing medical, surgical, 

and other health services to persons. 
Page 34 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

2005, the requester submitted an administrative appeal. However, by 

October 2005, the requester had not received a response to the 

administrative appeal and filed a lawsuit. The court decided in favor of 

the requester. However, details on the specific relief that the 

department provided to the requester in response to this ruling were 

not contained in available court documentation, and DOL officials 

could not provide such details. DOL appealed the decision, but the 

court dismissed its appeal.

• In June 2005, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration 

received a request for records related to the possible exposure of 

inspectors and employees to unhealthy/hazardous levels of beryllium. 

The department denied the request and in August 2005 the requester 

submitted an administrative appeal. The requester also submitted a 

second FOIA request for records related to quantifying the airborne 

and surface concentrations of chemical substances in workplaces 

where the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s inspectors 

obtain samples. After 3 months (by November 2005), the requester 

had not received a response to the administrative appeal and filed a 

lawsuit. The court decided in favor of the requester. DOL appealed 

the decision but the court dismissed the appeal and, according to a 

FOIA Counsel official, the department then released the information to 

the requester. 

• A request was submitted to the Mine Safety and Health Administration 

in September 2007 for records regarding the August 2007 Crandall 

Canyon Mine collapse that resulted in the death of nine miners and 

rescuers. In October 2007, the requester offered to accept a partial 

response to the request as a temporary compromise while awaiting

additional responsive documentation. After 3 months, the Mine Safety 

and Health Administration released more documentation, but withheld 

certain other documents, citing several exemptions. In May 2008, the 

requester submitted an administrative appeal in response to the Mine 

Safety and Health Administration’s use of the exemption for 

interagency or intra-agency memorandums, and an additional 

exemption for law enforcement proceedings. In June 2008, a month 

after the administrative appeal was submitted, DOL acknowledged the 

appeal, but did not respond by making a determination, as required by 

FOIA. In November 2008, 6 months after submitting the administrative 

appeal, the requester still had not received a response and filed a 

lawsuit. The court decided in favor of the requester and ordered DOL 

to conduct an additional search for all non-exempt information. The 

department complied by disclosing additional information. The 
Page 35 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

department and the requester later agreed to dismiss the lawsuit and 

waive any right to fees.

Forty-four lawsuits resulted in settlement agreements between DOL and 

the requesters. These included 5 lawsuits in which the department agreed 

to pay certain amounts of the requesters’ attorney’s fees and other costs, 

and 2 lawsuits in which the department agreed to release additional 

information to the requesters. For 37 other lawsuits, information on the 

specific nature and outcomes of the settlements was not available from 

either DOL’s FOIA official or the related court documentation.

For 5 lawsuits that involved settlements, the department agreed to pay to 

the requesters approximately $97,475 in attorney’s fees, expenses, and 

costs arising from the lawsuits.26 These lawsuits are summarized below.

• A lawsuit was filed as a result of the Wage and Hour Division not 

responding to an initial FOIA request sent to the department in July 

2010. The initial request was submitted for records related to 

complaints made by undocumented workers under the Wage and 

Hour Division’s “We Can Help” Program. After 2 months (by 

September 2010), DOL had not responded to the request and the 

requester filed a lawsuit. DOL and the requester entered into a 

settlement agreement resulting in the department agreeing to pay 

$350 for attorney’s fees and costs arising from the lawsuit.

• A lawsuit was filed after a requester had, in July 2010, sent 2 requests 

for information related to the Occupational Safety and Health 

Administration’s review of its whistleblower protection programs. DOL 

denied one request due to the exemption to withhold interagency or 

intra-agency memorandums or letters. In addition, the department did 

not respond to the second request. In August 2010, the requester 

submitted two administrative appeals to compel a response. After 2 

months, the department had not responded to the administrative 

appeals and the requester filed a lawsuit in October 2010. DOL and 

the requester entered into a settlement agreement that dismissed the 

lawsuit and, according to a FOIA Counsel official, resulted in the 

department releasing additional responsive records (6,000 pages in 

 26Statements from a FOIA Counsel official and documents associated with three of the 

lawsuits indicated that the monetary awards were in conjunction with the department also 

releasing additional information. 

Lawsuits Settled
Page 36 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

full or redacted). In addition, the department agreed to pay the 

requester $8,250 for attorney’s fees, expenses, and costs arising from 

the lawsuit.

• As the basis for another lawsuit, a FOIA requester had sought 

information from the department’s Office of Labor-Management 

Standards in December 2009 that related to a union’s trusteeship.27

Initially, in March 2010, the Office of Labor-Management Standards 

informed the requester by e-mail that it had compiled 8,500 pages of 

responsive documents. However, after corresponding with the office 

until July 2010, the requester filed an administrative appeal letter due 

to not receiving any information. Subsequently, 10 months after the 

initial FOIA request (in October 2010), the requester filed a lawsuit as 

a result of not having received a response to the administrative 

appeal, any responsive documentation, or an explanation for the 

delay in providing the documentation. According to a DOL FOIA 

Counsel official, the department subsequently processed the request 

and the requester entered into a settlement agreement with DOL 

resulting in the lawsuit being dismissed, and with the department 

paying $7,500 for the requester’s attorney fees, expenses, and costs 

arising from the lawsuit.

• In February 2013, a FOIA request was submitted for the Wage and 

Hour Division’s guidance documents regarding “hot goods objections” 

investigative files.28 DOL denied the request, citing the exemption 

related to information for law enforcement purposes. In April 2013, the 

requester submitted an administrative appeal regarding the previous 

decision. A month after submitting the administrative appeal, the 

requester had not received a response from the department and filed 

a lawsuit in May 2013. The department and the requester then 

entered into a settlement agreement, resulting in the lawsuit being 

dismissed and with the department paying $30,000 for attorney’s fees, 

expenses, and costs arising from the lawsuit.

 27The Office of Labor-Management Standards defines a trusteeship as supervision or 

control whereby a labor organization suspends the autonomy of a subordinate body under 

its constitution or bylaws.

28A hot goods objection allows the government to prohibit the shipment, offer of shipment, 

or sale in interstate commerce, of any goods allegedly produced in violation of the 

minimum wage, overtime pay, or child labor laws.
Page 37 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

• In a lawsuit filed against the department’s Employment and Training 

Administration in March 2013, the requester had not received any 

documents after a year of correspondence with DOL. From March 

2013 through August 2013, the department provided 217 responsive 

records in full to the requester, redacted 121 records, and withheld in 

full 151 records. The court decided in favor of the requester and, 

according to a FOIA Counsel official, ordered the department to 

conduct an additional search for responsive records. Nevertheless, 

the official stated that the requester and the department subsequently 

reached a settlement agreement, in which the department provided 

about 900 responsive records and agreed to pay the requester 

$51,375 for attorney’s fees, expenses, and costs.

In addition to the above, 2 lawsuits were settled without the award of 

attorney’s fees and other costs, but with the department agreeing to 

release additional information to the requesters. The following 

summarizes these lawsuits.

• A lawsuit was filed as a result of a request that was submitted to the 

Occupational Safety and Health Administration in August 2011 related 

to a wrongful death lawsuit involving the requester. The Occupational 

Safety and Health Administration initially provided some information, 

but withheld other information based on the law enforcement 

exemption. Subsequently, in November 2011, the requester appealed 

the decision. In December 2011, DOL responded to the administrative 

appeal and upheld the Occupational Safety and Health 

Administration’s decision to withhold information. The requester 

disagreed with DOL’s response and filed a lawsuit in September 

2012. DOL released additional information after the lawsuit was filed. 

The requester acknowledged receiving the information provided by 

DOL after the lawsuit was filed and agreed to settle and dismiss the 

lawsuit.

• In another case, the requester asked the department’s Office of the 

Solicitor for records related to a trip taken by the Secretary of Labor, 

including information on funding, internal memoranda and 

communications, and travel and security costs. Nine months after the 

request, the requester had not received any response from DOL and 

filed a lawsuit in March 2013. DOL provided information to the 

requester after the lawsuit was filed. In September 2013, after 

reviewing DOL’s documentation, the requester agreed with the court’s 

decision to settle and dismiss the case. The court dismissed the case 

in January 2014.
Page 38 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

As previously noted, details on the results of the 37 other lawsuits were 

lacking. In particular, the department’s Counsel for FOIA and Information 

Law could not provide details on what, if any, information and/or other 

relief were provided as part of the settlements. Further, the available court 

documentation did not include information on whether or not information 

was released to the requester; rather, the available documentation simply 

noted that the cases were dismissed.

As of April 2016, courts had not rendered decisions on 2 of the 68 

lawsuits.

• A lawsuit was filed pertaining to an expedited request that was 

submitted to the department’s Office of the Assistant Secretary for 

Administration and Management in July 2013 for records related to 

the use of alias e-mail addresses for DOL political appointees and a 

request to search personal e-mails of senior DOL officials for 

evidence of the use of personal e-mail to conduct official business. 

After 2 months, the requester had not received any response from the 

department and filed a lawsuit in September 2013. However, as of 

April 2016, the case was still pending.

• Lastly, a lawsuit was filed as a result of a FOIA request that was 

submitted in December 2013 related to the requester’s Federal Mine 

Safety and Health Act anti-retaliation complaint investigation file. In 

January 2014, the department sent an acknowledgement letter stating 

that, due to “unusual circumstances surrounding the records” being 

sought, it would take about 90 working days to fulfill the request and, 

therefore, the statutory time limits for processing the request could not 

be met. According to officials from the Mine Safety and Health 

Administration, the requester was provided the opportunity to modify 

the scope of the request so that it could be processed within the 

statutory time limits, but did not respond to this offer. By April 2014 (4 

months after the request was submitted), the requester had not 

received any information and filed a legal complaint. In May 2014, 

DOL provided certain responsive information, but withheld other 

records due to several exemptions. In December 2014, pursuant to a 

change in the Mine Safety and Health Administration’s FOIA policy, 

the department sent additional responsive information after reviewing 

the earlier response and determining that additional information were 

releasable. In July 2015, the court asked for the investigation file 

related to the requester’s Mine Safety and Health Administration 

complaint, and as of April 2016 the case was still pending.

Decisions Not Yet Rendered
Page 39 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

The OPEN Government Act of 2007 established the Office of 

Government Information Services within the National Archives and 

Records Administration to oversee and assist agencies in implementing 

FOIA. Among its responsibilities, the office offers mediation services to 

resolve disputes between requesters and federal agencies as an 

alternative to litigation. Office of Government Information Services was 

required to offer mediation services to resolve disputes between FOIA 

requesters and agencies.

According to Department of Justice guidance issued in July 2010, 

agencies should include in their final agency responses to requesters a 

standard paragraph notifying the requesters of the mediation services and 

providing contact information for the Office of Government Information 

Services. The guidance states that this notification should be provided at 

the conclusion of the administrative process within the agency (i.e., as 

part of the agency’s final response on the administrative appeal). This is 

intended to allow requesters to first exhaust their administrative remedies 

within the agency. The guidance also states that agencies should provide 

requesters with notification of their right to seek judicial review.

Since the issuance of the guidance in July 2010, none of the 12 FOIA 

lawsuits that we reviewed involving administrative appeals had 

corresponding response letters that included language notifying 

requesters of the Office of Government Information Services’ mediation 

services. Moreover, the department had not issued guidance to its 

components on including such language in the letters. Thus, requesters 

may have been unaware of the mediation services offered by the office as 

an alternative to deciding to litigate their FOIA case.

Officials representing the department’s Counsel for FOIA Appeals 

acknowledged that steps had not been taken to ensure that the language 

would be included in response letters. They stated that the Counsel for 

FOIA Appeals planned to consult with the Department of Justice’s Office 

of Information Policy on how to incorporate the language and on how the 

department should develop procedures for working with the Office of 

Government Information Services to mediate disputes with FOIA 

requesters. However, they did not identify a time frame for doing so.

Until it incorporates notification of the Office of Government Information 

Services’ mediation services in final response letters, DOL may be 

missing opportunities to resolve FOIA disputes through mediation and, 

thereby, reduce the lawsuits filed. Accordingly, the department may miss 

DOL Does Not Notify 

Requesters of National 

Archives and Records 

Administration’s Mediation 

Services as an Alternative 

to Litigation
Page 40 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

the opportunity to save time and money associated with its FOIA 

operations.

DOL has implemented a process to manage, prioritize, and respond to its 

FOIA requests. However, opportunities exist to improve its process. 

Specifically, because it has not updated its FOIA regulation to reflect 

recent changes to its process, the department may be hindering the 

public’s use of that process. Also, while the department uses a system to 

track its FOIA requests and a portal to allow requesters to track the status 

of requests online, the system and portal lack certain required and 

recommended capabilities that could enhance the management and 

processing of requests. Absent capabilities consistent with Section 508 of 

the Rehabilitation Act (as amended), the department is not implementing 

the federal requirement to make its electronic information accessible to 

people with disabilities. In addition, by implementing recommended 

capabilities, the department could be better positioned to ensure the 

efficiency of its FOIA processing efforts. Further, although the department 

responded to the majority of its fiscal year 2014 FOIA requests within the 

time frame mandated by law, it has not consistently documented the 

reasons for delays in its automated FOIA tracking system or notified 

requesters about them.

A majority of lawsuits brought against the department from January 2005 

through December 2014 either resulted from the department failing to 

respond to requests or because it withheld certain information pertaining 

to requests. By ensuring that requesters are made aware of mediation 

services offered by the National Archives and Records Administration’s 

Office of Government Information Services as an alternative to litigation, 

DOL may be able to avoid future lawsuits, thus saving resources.

To improve DOL’s management of FOIA requests, we recommend that 

the Secretary of Labor direct the Chief FOIA Officer to take the following 

five actions:

• Establish a time frame for finalizing and then issue an updated FOIA 

regulation.

• Establish a time frame for implementing, and take actions to 

implement, section 508 requirements in the department’s FOIA 

system and online portal.

• Establish a time frame for implementing, and take actions to fully 

implement, recommended best practice capabilities for enhanced 

Conclusions

Recommendations for 

Executive Action
Page 41 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

processing of requests in the department’s FOIA system and online 

portal.

• Require components to document in SIMS-FOIA the rationales for 

delays in responding to FOIA requests, and to notify requesters of the 

delayed responses when processing requests.

• Establish a time frame for consulting with the Department of Justice’s 

Office of Information Policy on including language in DOL’s response 

letters to administrative appeals notifying requesters of the National 

Archives and Records Administration’s Office of Government 

Information Services’ mediation services as an alternative to litigation, 

and then ensure that the department includes the language in the 

letters. 

We received written comments on a draft of this report from DOL and the 

National Archives and Records Administration. In DOL’s comments, 

signed by the Chief FOIA Officer (and reprinted in appendix V), the 

department concurred with all five recommendations and agreed that it 

can improve the management of its FOIA program. The department 

identified various actions that it had taken or planned to address the 

recommendations. For example, concerning our recommendation to 

update its FOIA regulation, the department stated that it has drafted a 

Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to update the regulation and expects to 

publish the final regulation by the end of 2016. 

In addition, relevant to our recommendation, the department stated that it 

is taking actions to review and modify the text and formatting of its public 

FOIA portal to comply with the provisions of Section 508 of the 

Rehabilitation Act, and expects to have changes in place by September 

2016. With regard to its automated FOIA tracking system, the department 

stated that the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration and 

Management determined that it can fulfill the requirements of Section 508 

by providing individualized accommodations to any DOL FOIA staff with 

vision or other accommodation needs who require access to the system.

For example, the department noted that large screen magnifiers and 

verbal description tools can be provided to staff that require such 

accommodations. The department added that it would continue to ensure 

that Section 508 compliance is included as a necessary element in 

planning for any future SIMS-FOIA replacement or successor system. 

Further, with regard to implementing recommended best practices, the 

department stated that it continues to monitor proposed FOIA legislation 

and Department of Justice guidance so that it can assess the feasibility 

Agency Comments 

and Our Evaluation
Page 42 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

and business need for investment in technology changes. The 

department said that it will ensure that the recommended best practice 

capabilities for enhanced FOIA processing are considered as a part of its 

planning for any future SIMS-FOIA replacement or successor system. 

Regarding our recommendation to document the rationale for delays in 

responding to FOIA requests, the department stated that its Office of 

Information Services plans to issue implementing guidance to address 

this matter. The Office of Information Services also is to provide follow-up 

training on the guidance after it is finalized and disseminated, a step 

which it expects to have completed by the end of September 2016.

Lastly, in response to our recommendation on notifying requesters of the 

mediation services offered by the Office of Government Information 

Services, the department stated that it consulted with the Department of 

Justice Office of Information Policy on March 7, 2016 and, as of March 

31, 2016, had begun including language in its final appeal decisions 

informing requesters of the mediation services. If the department follows 

through to ensure effective implementation of its actions on our five

recommendations, it should be better positioned to improve and 

successfully carry out the management of its FOIA program. 

Beyond DOL, in comments signed by the Archivist of the United States, 

the National Archives and Records Administration expressed appreciation 

for our review and for our recognizing the importance of DOL including

notification of the Office of Government Information Services’ mediation 

services in its final appeal letters. The National Archives and Records 

Administration’s comments are reprinted in appendix VI.

In addition to the aforementioned written comments, we received 

technical comments via e-mail from the Director of the Office of 

Information Services at DOL, and the Audit Liaisons from the Department 

of Justice and the National Archives and Records Administration. We 

have incorporated these comments, as appropriate.

As agreed with your offices, unless you publicly announce the contents of 

this report earlier, we plan no further distribution until 30 days from the 

report date. At that time, we will send copies of this report to the 

appropriate congressional committees, the Secretary of Labor, and other 

interested parties. In addition, the report is available at no charge on the 

GAO website at http://www.gao.gov.
Page 43 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

If you or your staff have any questions about this report, please contact 

me at (202) 512-6304 or melvinv@gao.gov. Contact points for our Offices 

of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found on the last 

page of this report. GAO staff who made key contributions to this report 

are listed in appendix VII.

Valerie C. Melvin

Director, Information Management and Technology Resources Issues
Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and 

Methodology

Page 44 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

Our objectives were to determine (1) how the Department of Labor (DOL) 

and its components manage and process Freedom of Information Act 

(FOIA) requests, including how they prioritize requests, and the extent 

that responses to requests have been timely; and (2) how many lawsuits 

DOL has been subject to arising from FOIA requests, and the results of 

those lawsuits.

To address the study objectives, we collected and analyzed published 

statistics from the department’s fiscal year 2014 and fiscal year 2015 

FOIA annual reports, and other documentation from the department’s 

central FOIA office, Office of Information Services, such as the October 

2010 Desk Reference Guide and August 2013 Best Practices Guide. To 

determine the responsibilities of the central FOIA office and the 

components in managing and processing requests, we reviewed 

organization charts; the department’s policies and procedures; and 

information discussed in the FOIA annual reports, the DOL Chief FOIA 

Officer reports, and other agency documentation. We also conducted 

interviews with responsible officials in the Office of the Solicitor and the 

department’s 23 component offices.1

To facilitate our understanding of how the central FOIA office and the 

components manage, prioritize, and process FOIA requests, we 

developed and administered a questionnaire to the 23 components in 

June 2015. We received responses from all of the components. To 

ensure that our questions were clear and logical and that respondents 

could answer the questions without undue burden, we provided the draft 

questionnaire to the department’s Office of Information Services and 

obtained and incorporated the office’s comments on the questionnaire in 

advance of sending it to the 23 components.

 1

The 23 Department of Labor components are Adjudicatory Boards, Office of 

Administrative Law Judges, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy, Bureau of Labor 

Statistics, Office of the Chief Financial Officer, Employee Benefits Security Administration, 

Employment and Training Administration, Bureau of International Labor Affairs, Mine 

Safety and Health Administration, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration and 

Management, Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs, Office of Disability 

Employment Policy, Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, Office of Inspector 

General, Office of Labor Management Standards, Office of Public Affairs, Office of the 

Secretary, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Office of Workers’

Compensation Programs, Office of the Solicitor, Veterans’ Employment and Training 

Service, Women’s Bureau, and the Wage and Hour Division.

Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and 

Methodology
Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and 

Methodology

Page 45 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

The practical difficulties of conducting any questionnaire may introduce 

errors, commonly referred to as non-sampling errors. For example, 

difficulties in how a particular question is interpreted, in the sources of 

information available to respondents, or in how the data were entered into 

a database or were analyzed can introduce unwanted variability into the 

results. With this questionnaire, we took a number of steps to minimize 

these errors. For example, our questionnaire was developed in 

collaboration with a GAO methodologist.

The results of our questionnaire were summarized to describe component 

efforts to manage, prioritize, and process FOIA requests. We also 

reviewed criteria used by the central office and components to prioritize 

requests, and assessed current procedures and practices against the 

criteria. Further, we reviewed available statistics on FOIA processing 

timeliness. The scope of our work focused on the department’s central 

tracking system and public portal, but did not include examining other 

systems, such as those used by the Inspector General and for separate 

FOIA appeals tracking.

To determine to what extent the responses to FOIA requests have been 

timely, DOL provided a list of 14,745 requests that had been received in 

the department as of October 1, 2013, and that had been fully processed 

by September 30, 2014. Of that total, we randomly selected a 

representative sample of 258 requests. In order to make the random 

selection, we first sorted the data we obtained based on component, 

process track, and whether the request was delayed or on time.2 We 

grouped the requests by their individual process track. For example, each 

closed request has a process track of simple,3 complex,4 or expedited.5

 2

A process track is defined as the request being designated as a simple, complex, or 

expedited.

3

Simple Request: a FOIA request that an agency using multi-track processing places in its 

fastest (non-expedited) track based on the low volume and/or simplicity of the records 

requested.

4

Complex Request: a FOIA request that an agency using multi-track processing places in 

a slower track based on the high volume and/or complexity of the records requested.

5

Expedited Processing: an agency will process a FOIA request on an expedited basis 

when a requester satisfies the requirements for expedited processing as set forth in the 

statute and in agency regulations.
Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and 

Methodology

Page 46 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

To ensure that all components were included in the sample, we divided 

the 23 components in the sample frame into two strata: components with 

10 or more requests (stratum 1) and components with fewer than 10

requests (stratum 2). We selected all cases per component in stratum 2. 

We chose 96 requests from stratum 1 and allocated those 96 requests 

according to the number of requests. We also wanted to ensure a 

minimum sample of 10 requests per component in stratum 1. This 

resulted in a total sample of 258 requests, as reflected in table 6.

Table 6: Number of Fiscal Year 2014 Freedom of Information Act Requests Sampled from Department of Labor Components

Stratum Component Population count Population percent Sample count

1 Occupational Safety and Health Administration 8,040 54.5 51

1 Wage and Hour Division 2,504 17.0 16

1 Mine Safety and Health Administration 1,494 10.1 10

1 Employment and Training Administration 1,067 7.2 10

1 Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs 345 2.3 10

1 Employee Benefits Security Administration 255 1.7 10

1

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration 

and Management 175 1.2 10

1 Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs 157 1.1 10

1 Office of Administrative Law Judges 154 1.0 10

1 Veterans’ Employment and Training Service 133 0.9 10

1 Office of Labor Management Standards 84 0.6 10

1 Office of the Solicitor 83 0.6 10

1 Office of Inspector General 72 0.5 10

1 Adjudicatory Boards 52 0.4 10

1 Bureau of International Labor Affairs 27 0.2 10

1 Office of the Chief Financial Officer 25 0.2 10

1 Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs 23 0.2 10

1 Office of the Secretary 24 0.2 10

2 Bureau of International Labor Affairs 8 0.1 8

2 Women’s Bureau 8 0.1 8

2 Office of Public Affairs 7 0.0 7

2 Office of Disability Employment Policy 5 0.0 5

2 Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy 3 0.0 3

Total 14,745 100.1 258

Source: GAO analysis of Department of Labor data. | GAO-16-248
Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and 

Methodology

Page 47 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

This methodology was used to yield a pre-determined precision level on 

population estimates while minimizing the sample size or the cost. In 

addition, it allowed us to measure whether the 258 requests were 

processed in a timely manner. Because we followed a random selection 

of the sample, we are able to make projections to the population. The 

results of our sample are generalizable to the population of FOIA 

requests processed by the department as of September 30, 2014. All 

percentage estimates from our sample have margins of error at the 95 

percent confidence level of plus or minus 15 percentage points or less, 

unless otherwise noted.

To estimate the population percentage of requests that were responded 

to within 20 days, the sample data are weighted to make them 

representative of the population. The weights are developed at the 

stratum level.

Our random sample is only one of a large number of samples that we 

might have drawn. Since each sample could have provided different 

estimates, we express our confidence in the precision of our particular 

sample’s results as a 95 percent confidence interval of plus or minus 15 

percentage points or less, unless otherwise noted. This is the interval that 

would contain the actual population value for 95 percent of the samples 

that we could have drawn.

To assess the reliability of the data we received, we supplemented our 

analysis with interviews of FOIA officials in the department’s Office of the 

Solicitor and Office of Information Services, as well as component 

officials, regarding their responsibilities and management practices. 

These officials included the DOL FOIA Public Liaison, the Director of the 

Office of Information Services, and the Director of the Office of the 

Solicitor. We also electronically tested the data and found them to be 

sufficiently reliable for purposes of our reporting objectives.

To determine the number of delayed requests, we compared the date of 

receipt,6 date assigned to agency,7 FOIA start date,8 and response date9

 6

Date of receipt in DOL: This is the date that the letter arrives at the first office when it 

comes to DOL.

7

Date assigned to agency: This is the date that the appropriate office receives the FOIA 

request. 
Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and 

Methodology

Page 48 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

field of each resolved request in the Secretary’s Information Management 

System for FOIA (SIMS-FOIA). To determine whether the request was 

forwarded to the appropriate office for processing within the statutory time 

frame of 10 working days, we reviewed the “date assigned to agency” 

field in SIMS-FOIA against the “date of receipt in DOL” field.10 To 

determine whether the department responded to the requester within 20 

working days, we reviewed the “date assigned – FOIA start date” field 

and compared it to the latest “response date” field. In addition, we 

reviewed other available documentation, including SIMS-FOIA snapshots 

and all documentation associated with each of the 258 resolved requests. 

We also reviewed data from SIMS-FOIA to identify any documentation of 

delays in processing the requests, reasons for the delays, and any 

actions taken by the department to notify requesters of delays.

To determine the number of FOIA lawsuits filed against the department, 

we reviewed relevant information that spanned portions of the prior and 

current administrations (January 2005 through December 2014). We 

obtained information on the lawsuits from DOL and the Department of 

Justice, and through the Public Access to Court Electronic Records 

(PACER) system.11

Specifically, we reviewed DOL documentation that discussed its FOIA 

litigation, settlements, and legal decisions made from January 2005 

through December 2014. In addition, we reviewed Department of Justice 

documentation that included a listing of DOL’s FOIA litigation cases, 

attorney costs and fees assessed by the courts, and court decisions 

made from January 2005 through December 2014. We reviewed and 

analyzed the documentation to confirm that all lawsuits were FOIA-related 

and included the department or a component as a defendant. We also 

reviewed the documentation to determine the reason the lawsuit was 

 8

FOIA start date: This is the date when the official clock begins for the 20 working day 

response time frame.

9

Response date: This field asks for the date the request is resolved, even if the 

component did not make the “decision” to release documents.

10FOIA requires agencies to route the requests to the office(s) responsible for processing 

them within 10 working days of receipt.

11The Public Access to Court Electronic Records system is an electronic public access 

service provided by the federal judiciary that allows users to obtain case and docket 

information online from federal appellate and district courts.
Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and 

Methodology

Page 49 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

brought to litigation and the resulting court decision. Further, we 

interviewed agency officials from the Department of Justice’s Civil 

Division and Office of Information Policy, as well as from DOL’s 

Management and Administrative Legal Services Division, to discuss their 

processes regarding litigating FOIA cases and the results of the cases. In 

selected cases, DOL did not have complete information associated with 

the lawsuit, such as the decision, complaint, and/or settlement 

documentation.

We conducted this performance audit from February 2015 to June 2016 

in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. 

Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain 

sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our

findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe that 

the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings and 

conclusions based on our audit objectives.
Appendix II: Freedom of Information Act 

Exemptions

Page 50 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) prescribes nine specific 

categories of information that are exempt from disclosure, which are 

described in table 7.

Table 7: Information Exempt from Disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

Exemption 

number Matters that are exempt from FOIA

(1)

(A) Specifically authorized under criteria established by an Executive Order to be kept secret in the interest of 

national defense or foreign policy and (B) are in fact properly classified pursuant to the Executive Order.

(2) Related solely to the internal personnel rules and practices of an agency.

(3)

Specifically exempted from disclosure by statute (other than section 552b of this title), provided that such statute 

(A) requires that matters be withheld from the public in such a manner as to leave no discretion on the issue or 

(B) establishes particular criteria for withholding or refers to particular types of matters to be withheld.

(4) Trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person and privileged or confidential.

(5)

Interagency or intra-agency memorandums or letters that would not be available by law to a party other than an 

agency in litigation with the agency.

(6)

Personnel and medical files and similar files the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted 

invasion of personal privacy.

(7)

Records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes, but only to the extent that the production of such 

law enforcement records or information:

(A) could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings;

(B) would deprive a person of a right to a fair trial or impartial adjudication;

(C) could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy;

(D)

could reasonably be expected to disclose the identity of a confidential source, including a state, local, or foreign 

agency or authority or any private institution which furnished information on a confidential basis, and, in the case 

of a record or information compiled by a criminal law enforcement authority in the course of a criminal 

investigation or by an agency conducting a lawful national security intelligence investigation, information furnished 

by confidential source;

(E)

would disclose techniques and procedures for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions, or would disclose 

guidelines for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions if such disclosure could reasonably be expected to 

risk circumvention of the law; or

(F) could reasonably be expected to endanger the life or physical safety of an individual.

(8)

Contained in or related to examination, operating, or condition of reports prepared by, on behalf of, or for the use 

of an agency responsible for the regulation of supervision of financial institutions.

(9) Geological and geophysical information and data, including maps, concerning wells.

Source: 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(1) through (b)(9). | GAO-16-248

Appendix II: Freedom of Information Act 

Exemptions
Appendix III: Department of Labor Stages for 

Processing a Freedom of Information Act 

(FOIA) Request

Page 51 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

In August 2013, the Department of Labor’s Office of the Information 

Services (OIS) issued guidance1 that is intended to assist the 

department’s staff in responding to FOIA requests. The guidance outlines 

the nine stages of processing a request received by the department, 

including the processing of administrative appeals and judicial reviews of 

lawsuits filed by requesters, as depicted in figure 3 below.

Figure 3: Department of Labor Stages for Processing a Freedom of Information Act Request

The nine stages that components are to take are as described:

• Receive and route a request. A FOIA request can be submitted to 

the department by a member of the public via postal mail, e-mail, or 

fax. If OIS receives a request, its staff are to log the request into the 

Secretary’s Information Management System for FOIA (SIMS-FOIA)

and route the request to the appropriate DOL component office, or 

retain the request if it pertains to the Office of the Solicitor. When the 

appropriate component receives the request in SIMS-FOIA, the clock 

for processing the request (i.e., 20 working days) starts. If the request 

 1

Department of Labor, FOIA Best Practices Processing Guide (Aug. 9, 2013).

Appendix III: Department of Labor Stages for 

Processing a Freedom of Information Act 

(FOIA) Request
Appendix III: Department of Labor Stages for 

Processing a Freedom of Information Act 

(FOIA) Request

Page 52 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

is misrouted, it is to be returned to OIS for reassignment to the 

appropriate component. Once assigned to the appropriate 

component, the FOIA processor receiving the request is to send an 

acknowledgement letter with a unique tracking number to the 

requester.

• Evaluate the request. The FOIA processor is to obtain from the 

requester a description of the records sought and determine if there is 

enough information to locate the responsive records. The processor is 

then to confirm in writing (or by e-mail) any narrowing in scope of the 

request or alternative time frames (i.e., beyond the 20 working days 

due to unusual circumstances) for processing the requests.

• Prioritize requests and time limit. When processing a request, 

components are to use one of three processing tracks (simple, 

complex, or expedited) and are to identify in SIMS-FOIA which track is 

being used to process the request. The decision is to be made based 

on the amount of work and/or the amount of time needed to process 

the request.

• Conduct a reasonable search. The FOIA processor is to conduct a 

search for responsive records. To do so, the processor can consult 

with subject matter experts to identify the type of responsive records 

that exist and the location of the records. Components are to maintain 

documentation concerning the search methodology, including the 

offices where the records were searched, the individual(s) that 

conducted the search, and what search terms were used.

• Review, segregate, and release non-exempt information. The 

FOIA processor is to review the responsive records, and determine 

whether a portion or all of any record should be withheld based on a 

statutory exemption. If a portion or all of any record is the 

responsibility of another agency or component, FOIA processor can 

consult with the other agency or component or send the responsive 

records to that other agency or component for processing.

• Assess fees. The component is to assess the fees that will be 

charged by the type of requester that is making the request. For 
Appendix III: Department of Labor Stages for 

Processing a Freedom of Information Act 

(FOIA) Request

Page 53 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

example, if the requester is a member of the news media, then he/she 

may request a fee waiver.2 Further, the types of fees charged depend 

on time spent to search for responsive records, document the review 

of records, and the copies of the records.

• Respond to the requester. When responding to the requester, the 

FOIA processor is to make a determination to release a response in 

full, to apply an exemption and withhold information protected under 

an exemption and release certain parts of the response, or fully deny 

the request. A response must be in writing and signed by a FOIA 

disclosure officer. Response letters must include language regarding 

the identification of responsive records; the page count of records 

processed; the amount of information or pages withheld, if applicable; 

the identification of any exemptions asserted; any procedural denials 

that apply; and the requester’s right to file an administrative appeal.

• Process administrative appeal. A requester has the right to 

administratively appeal any adverse determination a component 

makes concerning a request. The Office of the Solicitor, which serves 

as the designated appeals official, is to notify the requester in writing 

when the appeal is received, and review the component’s actions 

taken in response to the FOIA request to determine whether 

corrective steps are necessary. The Office of the Solicitor is to then 

issue a final appeal determination and notify the requester of the right 

to seek judicial review.

• Conduct judicial review of processing. FOIA provides requesters 

with the right to challenge an agency’s final decision in federal court. 

Components have the burden of proof and must demonstrate to the 

court all actions taken in response to a request, or that appeal 

determinations are appropriate and consistent with the statute and the 

department’s FOIA regulations. Components are to provide the 

department’s FOIA Counsel with the case file, including the 

 2

According to FOIA, a member of the media would qualify to be under the second 

category of fees (educational institutions, noncommercial scientific institutions, and 

representatives of the news media). Under this fee category, requesters are only 

assessed applicable duplication fees. In addition, requesters can ask for a waiver of fees 

(and representatives of the news media often qualify for a waiver) when “disclosure of the 

information is in the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public 

understanding of the operations or activities of the government and is not primarily in the 

commercial interest of the requester.”
Appendix III: Department of Labor Stages for 

Processing a Freedom of Information Act 

(FOIA) Request

Page 54 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

responsive record, any exemptions applied, and a response letter, as 

well as an appeal determination, if applicable. The FOIA case file 

must be preserved and processors must be prepared to justify their 

actions in the event of litigation.
Appendix IV: Timeliness of Department of 

Labor Components in Processing Freedom of 

Information Act Requests

Page 55 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

Using our sample of 258 Freedom of Information Act requests, we 

reviewed the Department of Labor’s timeliness in processing the 

requests. Specifically, for each of the department’s 23 components, table 

8 shows the number of requests in our sample of each type (simple, 

complex, or expedited); the number of days it took for those requests to 

be routed to the correct office; and the number of days it took for the 

components to respond to the requests.

Table 8: Timeliness of Department of Labor Processing of Selected Fiscal Year 2014 Freedom of Information Act Requests, by 

Component

Component

Total 

requests 

reviewed Simple Complex

Number of sample count 

requests that were routed to the 

correct office within 10 daysa

Number of sample count 

requests that met the statutory 

requirement to respond within 

20 daysb

Simple Complex Simple Complex 

Adjudicatory Boards 10 10 n.a. 8 n.a. 10 n.a.

Office of Administrative Law 

Judges 10 4 6 3 6 3 5 

Office of the Assistant 

Secretary for Policy 3 n.a. 3 n.a. 2 n.a. 0 

Bureau of Labor Statistics 10 7 3 6 2 7 1

Office of the Chief 

Financial Officer 10 1 7 1 7 1 6 

Employee Benefits Security 

Administration 10 2 8 2 6 1 5 

Employment and Training 

Administration 10 7 3 7 3 7 2 

Bureau of International 

Labor Affairs 8 2 6 2 5 1 1 

Mine Safety and Health 

Administration 10 n.a. 10 n.a. 10 n.a. 8 

Office of the Assistant 

Secretary for Administration

and Management 10 1 9 0 8 1 4 

Office of Congressional and 

Intergovernmental Affairs 10 n.a. 10 n.a. 7 n.a. 3 

Office of Disability 

Employment Policy 5 n.a. 5 n.a. 2 n.a. 4 

Office of Federal Contract 

Compliance Programs 10 3 7 3 6 3 5 

Office of Inspector General 10 8 2 8 2 6 1

Office of Labor 

Management Standards 10 6 4 5 4 3 1 

Appendix IV: Timeliness of Department of 

Labor Components in Processing Freedom 

of Information Act Requests
Appendix IV: Timeliness of Department of 

Labor Components in Processing Freedom of 

Information Act Requests

Page 56 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

Office of Public Affairs 7 1 6 1 5 0 4

Office of the Secretary 10 n.a. 10 n.a. 10 n.a. 3

Occupational Safety and 

Health Administration 51 22 28 21 26 18 22

Office of Workers’ 

Compensation Programs 10 2 8 2 7 2 4 

Office of the Solicitor 10 n.a. 10 n.a. 6 n.a. 2

Veterans’ Employment and 

Training Service 10 2 8 2 8 2 6 

Women’s Bureau 8 5 3 4 1 0 0

Wage and Hour Division 16 12 4 11 2 6 4

Sample Totals 258 95 160 86 135 71 91

Source: GAO analysis of Department of Labor data. | GAO-16-248

a

This is required by law to occur within 10 working days. It is measured by the number of days 

between “date received in DOL” and the assignment or “date assigned to agency” date.

b

This is required by law to occur within 20 working days. It is measured by the number of days

between the “FOIA start” date and the “date of response. 
Appendix V: Comments from the Department 

of Labor

Page 57 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

Appendix V: Comments from the Department 

of Labor
Appendix V: Comments from the Department 

of Labor

Page 58 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 
Appendix V: Comments from the Department 

of Labor

Page 59 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 
Appendix VI: Comments from the National 

Archives and Records Administration

Page 60 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

Appendix VI: Comments from the National 

Archives and Records Administration
Appendix VII: GAO Contact and 

Staff Acknowledgments

Page 61 GAO-16-248 DOL FOIA Processing 

Valerie C. Melvin, (202) 512-6304 or melvinv@gao.gov

In addition to the contact named above, key contributors to this report 

were Anjalique Lawrence (Assistant Director), Freda Paintsil (Analyst in 

Charge), Christopher Businsky, Quintin Dorsey, Rebecca Eyler, Andrea 

Harvey, Ashfaq Huda, Kendrick Johnson, Lee McCracken, Dae Park, 

David Plocher, Umesh Thakkar, Walter Vance, and Robert Williams, Jr.

Appendix VII: GAO Contact and Staff 

Acknowledgments

GAO Contact

Staff 

Acknowledgments

(100060)
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