ELAWS (Employment Laws Assistance for Workers and Small Businesses)
Investment ID: 012-000002485
Overview
Program Title
ELAWS (Employment Laws Assistance for Workers and Small Businesses)
Agency
Description
ELAWS is the Department of Labor's citizen-focused interactive website designed to help U.S. workers and employers understand their rights and responsibilities under Federal employment laws administered by DOL. It is a key public-facing online service.
Type of Program
Non-major IT Investments
Multi-Agency Category
Not Applicable
Associated Websites
http://webapps.dol.gov/elaws/
Investment Detail
Before the arrival of ELAWS, the main portal for Federal employment law compliance information and assistance, there was no automated, centralized DOL compliance assistance tool available to U.S. workers and businesses (especially small businesses). This presented a great gap to the Department of Labor, the largest regulatory agency in the Federal government. Employees and employers had few options to gain labor law compliance assistance, all of which were labor intensive research labor law on their own, secure legal assistance, contact a union representative, or directly contact the Department of Labor via phone, e-mail, or in person.
In addition, OASP experienced firsthand and learned from other DOL agencies the inordinate amount of time scarce DOL enforcement and investigator staffs were spending providing individual assistance to customers with routine or basic labor law questions. In response, OASP saw a significant need for a one-stop automated labor and employment law compliance tool. The ELAWS investment was initiated by OASP in November 1997 in response to this very specific performance gap.
In addition, OASP experienced firsthand and learned from other DOL agencies the inordinate amount of time scarce DOL enforcement and investigator staffs were spending providing individual assistance to customers with routine or basic labor law questions. In response, OASP saw a significant need for a one-stop automated labor and employment law compliance tool. The ELAWS investment was initiated by OASP in November 1997 in response to this very specific performance gap.