Department of Labor Hires Proxy Personnel to Assist with the FMSHRC backlog

DOL hires Proxy Personnel to provide office staff.

The Department of Labor awarded Proxy Personnel a contract to provide the Mine Safety and Health Administration with administrative assistants in Mount Hope, WV for the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission (FMSHRC) backlog. Office Proxy, a division of Proxy Personnel, will oversee the recruiting, staffing, and management of this contract.

FMSHRC is an independent agency that uses administrative law judges and a panel of commissioners to review contested citations and penalties. FMSHRC is a five-member body that has four commissioners at present. As the result of stepped-up enforcement and tougher penalties after a spate of mine tragedies in 2005 and 2006, mine owners tripled the number of violations they appeal and are now litigating 67 percent of all penalties, the House committee’s announcement of the hearing states. The backlog of cases FMSHRC must review has jumped from 2,100 in 2006 to approximately 16,000 today.