Indiana Department of Labor

¶ … Divisions of This Department

Quality, Metrics and Statistics Division

INOSHA

Wage and Hour Division

List three things from each of the three divisions you learned from exploring the website

Quality, Metrics and Statistics Division

The Quality, Metrics and Statistics division reports on performance management within the state. They report of occupational illness, injury and fatalities within the state. They utilize six sigma related projects which reduces the amount of injury or illness dramatically within the workplace.

Workplace fatalities have steadily declined from 1992 which was the first year that statistics were collected. Fatalities have fallen from a high of 195 per year in 1994 to 127 fatalities per year in 2014.

Over the past three years, Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing, and Hunting related deaths has increased by nearly 40% from 16 in 2011 to 27 in 2014.

b. INOSHA

The Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration's primary responsibility is to help improve workplace safety and practices. They conduct periodic inspections and evaluations of health hazards in the workplace.

ii. INOSHA is now in the process of strengthening its workplace related standards and practices. They have recently adopted OSHA's rules for record keeping and reporting. For instance, business must now report in-patient hospitalization within 24 hours. Previously, this only applied to a company if 3 or more individuals were hospitalized.

iii. INOSHA has a separate whistle blower protection unit. This unit is specifically in charge of protecting individuals who have been discharges of discriminated against for engaging in a protected activity.

c. Wage and Hour Division

i. The wage and hour division is in charge of enforcement of wage and hours laws within Indiana. Aspects such as minimum wage, employee documentation, and protection against wage discrimination fall under this department

ii. Worker misclassification occurs when a worker who meets the statutory or common law definition of an employee is treated as a self-employed worker or independent contractor. This has implications for both employee and employer. In the case of an employee misclassification can deprive them of minimum wage payments and overtime pay. Particularly important, workers who are misclassified have no recourse if they are injured on the job.

iii. For employers misclassification lowers labor costs. Many employers simply avoid the documentation that assesses an individual's right to work in the United States legally. Thus, it distorts the competitive environment as businesses cheat by hiring undocumented workers to lower their labor costs

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