First, you should know that media policy is governed by the Secretary of Labor’s Press Officer, and not by the individual agencies within the U.S. Department of Labor. So, the rules could change again with the President’s appointment of, and the Senate’s confirmation of, a new Secretary of Labor to replace now departed Secretary Solis…but I do not think so since the DOL Press Policy has thus far been White House driven.
Every Secretary of Labor has his or her own personal sense of how to use the media and all of Secretary Solis’ predecessors had a formal “press (or media) policy” as to how and when to use publicity. Almost all of Secretary Solis’ predecessors used the media to magnify their substantive policies and to highlight vigorous enforcement of policies of interest to the Secretary or born of the times in which they found themselves.
Secretary Marshall (Carter Administration) was a thoughtful academician and rarely used the media to highlight what the Department was doing. He reserved use of Press Releases for major policy pronouncements or litigation victories illustrating laws about which companies should be aware so they did not make the same mistake one of their competitors made.
Ray Donovan (first term Reagan Administration) loved to highlight Wage-Hour and OSHA issues (things he knew about personally as the owner of the world’s then second largest construction company). I recall well Press Releases and “live” media coverage of the Secretary personally joining Wage-Hour investigators to storm “work dungeons” in Manhattan’s garment district where they found hundreds of illegal aliens working at sewing machines in dimly-lit, poor and cramped working conditions. It was a “must do photo op” for several Secretaries thereafter, complete with images of a large posse of Wage-Hour investigators battering down locked doors with sledge hammers: the White Knights riding in to the rescue. Great TV “12 second sound bite” imagery. But, the objective was to shut down the “sweat shops” and stop that kind of unlawful business conduct. …
THIS COLUMN IS MEANT TO ASSIST IN A GENERAL UNDERSTANDING OF THE CURRENT LAW AND PRACTICE RELATING TO OFCCP. IT IS NOT TO BE REGARDED AS LEGAL ADVICE. COMPANIES OR INDIVIDUALS WITH PARTICULAR QUESTIONS SHOULD SEEK ADVICE OF COUNSEL.