Inspector General Policies Term Paper

Inspector General

One of the most important aspects of government is trust. This is because the people rely on administrators to do the right thing and always take their well-being into consideration. The Inspector General has the power to investigate and indentify problems with various labor laws and the Department of Labor. A recent study uncovered major problems when it came to employee pension plans. To fully understand what is happening requires examining the study. This will be accomplished by looking at common themes from the report and areas to improve upon critical weaknesses. Together, these different elements will illustrate how to deal with key challenges when it comes to the way various policies and directives are enforced. ("Semi Annual Report to Congress," 2012)

The Common Themes from the Inspector General's Report

The Inspector General (IG) found that the Department of Labor was making progress in enforcing different regulations and guidelines. The result is that transparency has improved among the department and different stakeholders they are interacting with. Evidence of this can be seen with the IGs report saying, "The OIG's investigative work also yielded impressive results, with a total of 257 indictments, 293 convictions, and $36.8 million in monetary accomplishments. Results highlighted in this report include that the following:

The founder and former president of the National Association of Special Police and Security Officers in Washington, D.C., was sentenced to 76 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution of more than $252,000 for stealing funds from the union's pension plan.

The former president of Massey Energy Company's Green Valley Resource Group was sentenced in West Virginia to 42 months of incarceration for his role in conspiring to impede MSHA inspections and to violate mine safety and health laws.

A Louisiana woman was sentenced to 57 months in prison for creating false identification documents and impersonating a federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration trainer.A New Jersey man was sentenced to 27 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution of more than $1.6 million for his role in an Unemployment Insurance fraud scheme." ("Semi Annual Report to Congress," 2013)

These insights are showing how the IG is helping to prevent fraud and abuse by actively investigating various practices / claims. This proactive approach has improved accountability within the department. In the future, this will make the process more responsive to the needs of stakeholders and embrace higher standards of oversight.

Better than the IG

One of the biggest challenges the IG is facing moving forward, is underfunded pensions. This is problematic as the Department of Labor has the responsibility for ensuing that the various polices from the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) are enforced. This law allows officials to determine if employers are following various pension guidelines. In the last two decades, these areas have become strained. This is from a lack of resources and personnel. To make the situation worse, many firms began to invest in alternative strategies. These are assets that will not be subject to state / federal regulations and very risky. This leads to a lack of accountability inside many pension funds. The problem has become so extreme, that actuaries are estimating pension funds to be underfunded by $3 trillion. The challenges are determining where the investments occurred and if they will have an impact on the performance of these funds. ("Semi Annual Report to Congress," 2013)

Evidence of this can be seen with the report saying, "Uniform guidance for hard-to-value alternative investments was lacking. We found EBSA had not yet implemented recommendations from the ERISA Advisory Council, the Government Accountability Office, and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants to provide….....