Master Calendar

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This list highlights key dates in 2016 and 2017 that pertain to important deliverables, events, and 

submissions. 

December 2016

• Friday, December 9 – The Continuing Resolution funding the government expires. 

January 2017

• Friday, January 6 – Employment Situation released (first Friday of every month). More 

information on “Numbers Day” can be found in the overview for BLS and of the Chief 

Economist’s Office in OSEC.

• Friday, January 20 – Inauguration Day

• Friday, January 27 – The BLS Commissioner’s term appointment expires. The current 

Commissioner began a 4-year term in January 2013. The incoming Administration will 

need to nominate a BLS Commissioner. Please see the BLS section for more information. 

February 2017

• Friday, February 3 – Employment Situation released (see above)

• Monday, February 6 – FY 2018 Current Services Budget due. The President is required by 

statute to submit a budget request to Congress no later than the first Monday in February. 

Following guidance from OMB, the Departmental Budget Center expects to coordinate 

formulation of a “current services” level budget based on guidance from the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) to meet this requirement. A current services budget would 

reflect FY 2017 resources plus inflationary adjustments necessary to maintain the 

Department’s operations. OMB typically releases guidance about the budget submission in 

November or December. 

March 2017

• Friday, March 10 – Employment Situation released (see above)

• Mid-March – US expected to reach debt ceiling. 

• TBD - Submissions for semiannual regulatory agenda due. Twice a year, federal agencies 

combine efforts to publish a comprehensive report describing regulations currently under 

development or recently completed. These reports are bundled together and published as 

the Unified Agenda. Each agency's contribution is called a Semiannual Regulatory Agenda. 

The OMB call for agency submissions for the 2017 Spring Regulatory Agenda will likely be 

issued in February 2017, with the Department’s submission due in March. 

April 2017

• Friday, April 7 – Employment Situation released (see above)
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• Saturday, April 15 or later – Congress passes budget resolution. Following the President’s 

Budget release, the House and Senate Budget Committees are supposed to develop their 

own budget plans. Unlike the President’s Budget, the budget resolution is a simple 

document that lays out how much Congress is supposed to spend in each of 19 broad 

spending categories and how much total revenue the government will collect for each of the 

next five years. The report that accompanies the budget resolution includes a table called 

the 302(a) allocation. The House and Senate Appropriations Committees receive a single 

302(a) allocation for all of its programs. They are to divide that among the 12 

subcommittees, creating the 302(b) sub-allocations. 

The Budget Resolution is supposed to be adopted by April 15, but it often takes longer, or 

sometimes does not occur at all. Because it never gets signed by the President, it does not 

become law. It is used to set targets for congressional committees. It is likely that this 

process will be delayed. In 2009, Congress adopted the concurrent resolution on April 29. 

• Friday, April 28 – Workers' Memorial Day is observed every year on April 28. It is a day to 

honor those workers who have died on the job, to acknowledge the grievous suffering 

experienced by families and communities, and to recommit ourselves to the fight for safe 

and healthful workplaces for all workers. It is also the day OSHA was established in 1971. 

• TBD – FY 2018 Policy Budget submitted to Congress. This is similar to what would typically 

be released in early February in a non-transition year. The Budget reflects policy proposals 

and the President’s proposed plan of investments for the next fiscal year. President Obama 

submitted a detailed budget proposal on May 7, 2009 and submitted additional 

supplemental volumes on May 11, 2009. This exercise would be led by the Office of the Chief 

Financial Officer and the Departmental Budget Center, following OMB guidance. 

Negotiations with OMB regarding what will be included in the Budget will likely take place 

in February and March. 

May 2017

• Friday, May 5 – Employment Situation released (see above)

• Tuesday, May 16 – Wednesday, May 17 – G20 Labor and Employment Ministers’ Meeting in 

Bad Neuenahr, Germany. The G20 Labor and Employment Ministers' process brings 

together Labor and Employment Ministers from countries representing approximately 85 

percent of the world's global economy to advise G20 Leaders on the most pressing labor 

challenges facing workers. ILAB will serve as the Department’s lead on preparations, and 

the Secretary will be expected to attend.

• TBD - Annual Conference of the International Labor Organization. The broad policies of the 

ILO are set by the International Labour Conference, which meets once a year in June, in 

Geneva, Switzerland. This annual Conference brings together governments', workers' and 

employer's delegates of the ILO member States. Often called an international parliament of 

labour, the Conference establishes and adopts international labour standards and is a forum 

for discussion of key social and labour questions. It also adopts the Organization's budget 

and elects the Governing Body. Each member State is represented by a delegation 

consisting of two government delegates, an employer delegate, a worker delegate, and their 
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respective advisers. Many of the government representatives are cabinet ministers 

responsible for labour affairs in their own countries. Employer and Worker delegates are 

nominated in agreement with the most representative national organizations of employers 

and workers.

• TBD - Secretary’s Honor Awards program in the National Office. The Secretary's Annual 

Honor Awards are the highest level of recognition to acknowledge fellow DOL employees 

whose work and accomplishments are of an outstanding level. Each year the Secretary's 

Annual Honor Awards are presented to employees at ceremonies in the National and 

Regional offices.

• TBD - FY 2018 Appropriations Hearings. In non-transition years, the Secretary is typically 

invited to testify in front of the House and Senate Appropriations Labor, HHS, Education, 

and Related Agencies Subcommittees regarding the Department’s Budget. The hearings 

generally occur in March, about a month after the budget is released. Secretary Solis 

testified about the FY 2010 budget in front of the House subcommittee on May 12, 2009 and 

the Senate subcommittee on May 13, 2009. Questions for the Record are typically provided 

two weeks after the hearing with a short turnaround time for completion. 

• TBD – Appropriations subcommittees begin work. After receiving their 302(b) allocations 

and hearing the Secretary testify, the appropriations committees would begin drafting the 

FY 2018 bill text. 

June

• Friday, June 2 – Employment Situation released (see above)

• Friday, June 2 – Draft Strategic Plan due to OMB. Agencies are required to publish an 

updated Strategic Plan, which meets requirements of the GPRA Modernization Act, 

concurrent with the publication of the FY 2019 President’s Budget in February 2018. 

Agencies should prepare the Strategic Plan initial draft by June 2, 2017, in order to inform 

the development of the FY 2019 budget submission and FY 2019 Annual Performance Plan, 

which will also include FY 2018-2019 Agency Priority Goals. Continued refinements to the 

initial draft Strategic Plan will be expected prior to publication in February 2018. 

• TBD - Begin FY 2019 Departmental Budget Process. The Department will send out guidance 

regarding instructions for development of the FY 2019 President’s Budget. Agencies submit 

budget requests to the Departmental Budget Center, who provides analysis and 

recommendations to the Deputy Secretary. 

• Friday, June 30 – End of Program Year 2016. The program year for some ETA programs is 

July 1 through June 30. The program year (PY) is designated by the calendar year in which 

the program year begins, e.g., program year 2016 begins July 1, 2016 and ends June 30, 

2017. Program year funds are appropriated in the fiscal year budget of the same calendar 

year designation, e.g., program year 2016 funds are provided in the fiscal year 2016 budget.
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July

• Saturday, July 1 – Beginning of PY 2017

• Friday, July 7 – Employment Situation released (see above)

August

• Friday, August 4 – Employment Situation released (see above)

• TBD - Secretary makes final decisions on DOL FY 2019 budget request. The Deputy Secretary 

will make recommendations to the Secretary on requests that should be included in the 

Budget. After the Secretary’s decisions are made, agencies will produce budgets for OMB. 

September

• Friday, September 1 – Employment Situation released (see above)

• Monday, September 4 – Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor 

movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. 

It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the 

strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

• Tuesday, September 5 – FY 2019 DOL Budget request due to OMB. The Department’s 

Budget request and an accompanying letter from the Secretary to the OMB Director are 

typically transmitted shortly after Labor Day. The letter is typically drafted by 

Departmental Budget Center and cleared throughout the Department. 

• Saturday, September 30 – End of FY 2017

• TBD - Finalize FY 2018 Operating Plans. Based on the Department’s strategic goals and 

objectives from the strategic plan, each agency within DOL creates an Operating Plan for the 

upcoming fiscal year. The operating plans include quantitative benchmarks for agency 

outputs, and will provide the roadmap for agency operations. Operating plans will also be 

subject to review and revisions, where necessary, over the course of the fiscal year, to 

ensure that each agency and the Department as a whole are working efficiently toward 

meeting our goals and objectives. 

• TBD - Submissions for semiannual regulatory agenda due (see above)

October

• Sunday, October 1 – Beginning of FY 2018 

• Friday, October 6 – Employment Situation released (see above)
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November

• Friday, November 3 – Employment Situation released (see above)

• Wednesday, November 15 – Agency Financial Report published. The annual Agency 

Financial Report (AFR) provides fiscal data and summary performance results that enable 

the President, Congress, and American people to assess the Department’s accomplishments 

for each fiscal year (October 1 through September 30). The report provides an overview of 

programs, accomplishments, challenges, and management’s accountability for the resources 

entrusted to the Department. 

• Monday, November 27 (approx.) – OMB Passback of FY 2019 Budget decisions. Typically on 

the Monday after Thanksgiving, OMB provides passback of their budget decisions. The 

Department is usually given between 2 and 4 days for an appeal. 

• TBD - OIG Top Management Challenges published. Beginning in 1998, members of Congress 

asked Inspectors General to provide an assessment of the most serious management 

challenges facing their respective agencies. For the next several years, the OIG compiled a 

list of the top management and performance challenges and forwarded them to the 

Congress. In 2001, this requirement was codified in the Reports Consolidation Act of 2000. 

This Act requires the Office of Inspector General to prepare a statement that summarizes 

what the Inspector General considers to be the most serious management challenges facing 

the Department of Labor. The Act also requires that this statement be included, unmodified, 

in the Department's Annual Report on Performance and Accountability. Since 2001, the Top 

Management and Performance Challenges report has been included in the Department's 

Annual Report on Performance and Accountability, along with the Department's response. 

Beginning in FY 2005, the Departmental response is throughout its Annual Report and is 

not a separate document.

December

• Friday, December 1 (approx.) – DOL Appeal of FY 2019 Budget decisions due. Following the 

passback of budget decisions, the Department submits a letter from the Secretary to the 

Director of OMB appealing certain budget decisions. The letter is typically drafted by the 

Departmental Budget Center and cleared throughout the Department. 

• Friday, December 8 – Employment Situation released (see above)