As the elected agency head of the NC Department of Labor, Commissioner Luke Farley has sent a letter to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer calling for immediate action to end the federal government shutdown.
In the letter, Commissioner Farley emphasizes his duty to protect the health, safety, and well-being of nearly four million workers in North Carolina and highlights how the ongoing federal shutdown is undermining that mission.
Because North Carolina operates under a U.S. Department of Labor-approved State Plan, workplace safety enforcement is carried out by the NCDOL rather than federal OSHA. However, a significant portion of critical funding for that program comes through federal grants, now delayed as a result of the federal shutdown.
With the last grant disbursement having arrived on September 30, NCDOL has been forced to cover federal salary costs for safety inspectors from its limited reserve of state funds. Continued delay means inspectors could soon be furloughed — putting workers, particularly in high-risk industries such as construction and manufacturing, at increased danger on the job.
In Commissioner Farley's letter he states, “Senate Democrats once claimed to stand with working people. Today, they are playing political games at the expense of hardworking North Carolinians. Every day this shutdown continues, the risk to our workers increases. It’s time to end the federal shutdown and put American workers first again.”
He adds that the shutdown is not a theoretical concern but an immediate risk to worker safety in the Tar Heel State — and that the NCDOL will continue to monitor the situation and take necessary steps to protect North Carolina’s workforce.