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Special Message to the Congress Transmitting Reorganization Plan 19 of 1950.

March 13, 1950

To the Congress of the United States:

I transmit herewith Reorganization Plan No. 19 of 1950, prepared in accordance with the Reorganization Act of 1949. This reorganization plan carries out a specific recommendation of the Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government by transferring from the Federal Security Agency to the Department of Labor the Bureau of Employees' Compensation and the Employees' Compensation Appeals Board and their functions. The functions of the Federal Security Administrator with respect to employees' compensation are also transferred by the plan.

The reorganization plan is a further step in achieving the general objective of the Commission to strengthen the Department of Labor by bringing within it labor functions which over many years have been scattered throughout the Executive Branch.

Last year by reorganization plan the Bureau of Employment Security was transferred to the Department of Labor. Today I am also transmitting Reorganization Plan No.19 which assigns to the Department of Labor the responsibility for prescribing and enforcing standards, regulations, and procedures in order to coordinate and assure consistent enforcement of labor standards legislation applying to Federally financed or assisted construction and public works. The accompanying reorganization plan will further consolidate allied programs of the Federal Government pertaining to employees and employment.

The Bureau of Employees' Compensation administers programs which compensate workers and their dependents for death or disabling injuries suffered in the course of employment. These programs constitute the Federal Government's system of workmen's compensation and include the related functions of accident prevention and safety. Currently, there are four major groups of employees covered by this system, including 2,000,000 Federal employees, 500,000 longshoremen and harbor workers, 250,000 industrial employees in the District of Columbia and an estimated 100,000 employees of private contractors located at overseas United States bases. In 1949 these groups of employees suffered over 200,000 injuries, of which 30,000 resulted in claims for compensation.

The Employees' Compensation Appeals Board hears and finally decides appeals on claims of employees covered by the Federal Employees' Compensation Act. Non-Federal employees take appeals arising from compensation claims directly to the District courts.

This workmen's compensation system, which is designed to mitigate the hardships attendant upon the death or disabling injuries of employees growing out of their employment, is clearly a labor function and is closely related to other programs of the Department of Labor.

For many years the Department of Labor has taken leadership in promoting standards for workmen's compensation programs throughout the country. It is most appropriate that the agency promoting high standards for workmen's compensation programs throughout the several states should likewise administer the Federal Government's workmen's compensation programs.

An accident prevention program is always a necessary adjunct of a workmen's compensation system. The Department of Labor has the primary responsibility in the Federal Government for developing and promoting programs for the prevention and elimination of industrial hazards. This activity is primarily carried out by the Bureau of Labor Standards through the establishment of safety standards of general application throughout industry. This Bureau is also the focal point for making effective the Government's Nation-wide conferences on industrial safety. A related activity is the responsibility of the Wage and Hour and Public Contracts Divisions of the Department to enforce the safety provisions of the Walsh-Healey Public Contract Act with respect to working conditions on certain public contracts.

The Secretary of Labor also has special responsibilities relating to safety for Federal employees, having served as Chairman of the Policy Board of the Interdepartmental Safety Council since its inception. The Bureau of Labor Standards has provided the necessary staff work for the Council, and has assisted the Secretary of Labor in carrying out his broad area of interest in Federal safety programs.

An integral part of the Department's activities for effective programs of workmen's compensation and industrial safety has been the compilation of accident statistics by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Effective administration of workmen's compensation or safety standards requires the use of that Bureau's information on work injuries and accident causes, for this information affords important guidance in the establishment of equitable compensation benefits and in the formulation of effective safety standards.

Prior to 1916, the Federal system of workmen's compensation was carried out under the Secretary of Labor, or his predecessor the Secretary of Commerce and Labor. From 1916 to 1946 administration of this system was vested in an independent Employees' Compensation Commission. Due to the greatly increased complexity of the Federal Government, it was imperative that the independent status of that Commission be eliminated and that it be placed within one of the major constituents of the Executive Branch. Therefore, in 1946, the Employees' Compensation Commission was abolished and its functions were transferred to the Federal Security Agency.

Since 1946, new conditions have arisen which make it desirable to change the location of the Federal workmen's compensation system. Recently, through the 1949 amendments to the Federal Employees' Compensation Act, the Bureau of Employees' Compensation was given increased responsibilities, with respect to accident prevention and safety. Furthermore, in 1949, responsibility for unemployment compensation was assigned to the Department of Labor. Workmen's compensation, like unemployment compensation, is a program designed to alleviate hazards arising in employment. Since functions relating to both employment and employment conditions are performed by the Department of Labor, compensation for injury suffered in employment, like compensation for unemployment, should also be a function of the Department of Labor.

There are not transferred by the provisions of this reorganization plan (1) any function of the Public Health Service, (2) any function of the Federal Security Agency or the Federal Security Administrator under the Vocational Rehabilitation Act, as amended (including the function of assuring the development and accomplishment of state rehabilitation plans affecting beneficiaries under the Federal Employees Compensation Act), nor (3) the function of developing or establishing rehabilitation services or facilities. These responsibilities are retained in the Federal Security Agency. This provision will preclude the necessity for establishing any duplicating facilities or services.

After investigation, I have found and hereby declare that each of the reorganizations included in Reorganization Plan No. 19 of 1950, is necessary to accomplish one or more of the purposes set forth in section 2(a) of the Reorganization Act of 1949.

It is probable that a reduction of expenditures will result from the reorganizations included in this plan, as well as from greater efficiency of administration. An itemization of these reductions in advance of actual experience under this plan is not practicable.

This reorganization is another link in the program to strengthen the Department of Labor. It will result in the accomplishment of optimum efficiency and is in the interest of the most effective organization of the Government.

HARRY S. TRUMAN

Note: Reorganization Plan 19 of 1950 is published in the U.S. Statutes at Large (64 Stat. 1271) and in the 1949-1953 Compilation of title 3 of the Code of Federal Regulations (p. 1010). It became effective on May 24, 1950.

Harry S Truman, Special Message to the Congress Transmitting Reorganization Plan 19 of 1950. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/230846

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