almost 50 of the attorney general's employees are involved in what government task

by Magdalen Wolf Jr. 4 min read

Almost one-half of the attorney general's employees are involved in what government task? collecting child-support payments.

What is the role of Attorneys General in the government?

attorney general the principal legal officer who represents a country or a state in legal proceedings and gives legal advice to the government. bureaucracy a system of government in which most of the important decisions are made by state officials rather than by elected representatives.

How often does the Attorney General appear in court?

The attorney general rarely appears in court, but makes key decisions on major cases, assists in local and federal investigations and meets with legislators and constituents on a regular basis, according to Walter Cohen, who served as first deputy attorney general over six years and then as acting attorney general for several months in 1995.

Can the Attorney General’s office supersede a district attorney?

The attorney general’s office can also supersede a local district attorney if they can prove that the DA did not pursue a case he or she should have. The office is considering if they want to intervene in the case of a February Philadelphia bar fight that may have involved Buffalo Bills running back LeSean McCoy.

What does the PA State Attorney General actually do?

What does a state attorney general actually do? The Pennsylvania attorney general is the state’s top lawyer. The office can bring down drug rings, investigate public corruption and it defends the state when it is sued.

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What is the role of the Attorney General quizlet?

the principal legal officer who represents a country or a state in legal proceedings and gives legal advice to the government.

What is the Comptroller of Public Accounts responsible for quizlet?

The comptroller of public accounts directs the collection of taxes for the state of Texas.

What are the roles of the Texas Senate in appointments made by the governor?

What is the role of the Texas Senate in appointments made by the governor? -The Texas Senate confirms the governor's nominees.

Which executive level office serves as legal counsel to the governor the Legislature and state agencies?

Attorneys general serve as the chief law enforcement official and often head the state's Department of Justice. They operate as legal advisors to state agencies or officials and represent the state in lawsuits.

What is the most important power of the state comptroller?

In Texas, what is the most important power of the state comptroller? He directs the collection of taxes and other revenues and estimates revenues for the budgeting process.

Who can file a complaint with the state Commission of Judicial Conduct quizlet?

Under the Judicial Conduct and Disability Act and the Rules for Judicial-Conduct and Judicial-Disability Proceedings, anyone can file a complaint alleging a federal judge has committed misconduct or has a disability.

What are the roles of the Texas Senate in appointments made by the governor quizlet?

What is the Texas Senate's role in appointments made by the governor? The Texas Senate confirms the governor's nominees. The Texas Senate can remove nominees from office. The governor gets the input of a nominee's home-district senator.

For which task can a Texas governor use executive orders quizlet?

Authorization for spending state money to finance provisions of a bill if the bill becomes law. The governor issues executive orders to set policy within the executive branch and the create task forces, councils, and other bodies.

What is the most important role the governor of Texas plays in the judicial process?

What is the most important role the governor of Texas plays in the judicial process? The governor has the power to appoint judges to fill any vacancies on the bench for the time period before elections are held.

What are governors duties?

The primary function of the governor is to preserve, protect and defend the constitution and the law as incorporated in their oath of office under Article 159 of the Indian constitution in the administration of the state affairs.

What are the duties of a state governor?

Among the duties conferred on most governors are:Propose and pass new legislation. ... Command the state National Guard. ... Manage agencies. ... Appoint state judges. ... Grant clemency and reprieves. ... Interface with other states and the federal government.

Which state government sector has the largest number of employees?

These are the states with the most people working for the government. Wyoming employed the largest share of state and local government workers in the country, at 22.4% of its workforce.

What is the role of the Attorney General?

A core function of state attorneys general is representing the state in court. Offices may defend labor agencies in their enforcement of state laws when employers challenge that enforcement in court, or they may defend agency decisions in unemployment or workers’ compensation cases. For example, in New York during the past decade, there have been numerous unemployment insurance cases where the New York Department of Labor determined that a worker had employee status, and was not an independent contractor as the employer claimed, and the attorney general’s office defended those determinations in appellate courts. 9 This representational function can also come into play in cases with national implications, such as in the Janus v. AFSCME case, in which the Illinois Attorney General’s Office represented the state as a party when defending public-sector unions’ ability to collect fair share fees (OAG Illinois 2018).

How can a state attorney general influence labor and employment policies and regulations?

State attorneys general can also influence labor and employment policies and regulations by participating in litigation before the United States Supreme Court and by submitting comments in relation to federal rulemaking.

How many convictions has the Attorney General of New York had?

New York’s attorney general has obtained over 40 convictions of employers for violating labor laws since 2011. One such case involved a Papa John’s franchisee who created false records and gave workers fictitious names in order to continue to illegally withhold overtime pay after becoming aware that he was under investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor for wage violations. 8

How many states have attorneys general?

All 50 states and the District of Columbia, as well as Puerto Rico and other territories, have attorneys general. Although 43 of these attorneys general are elected statewide on a partisan basis, the staffs of these offices are generally career and operate in a professional, nonpolitical manner. 2

What is wage theft?

Wage theft occurs when employers fail to pay workers the full wages to which they are entitled for their labor. This includes, for example, refusing to pay workers the total amount of promised wages, not paying for time spent preparing a workstation at the start of a shift or closing up at the end of a shift, not paying overtime premiums to workers who work more than 40 hours a week, and keeping workers’ tips. Given that wage theft disproportionately affects workers from low-income households—who are already struggling to make ends meet—the loss of wages can have a particularly damaging impact.

When two or more businesses determine or have control over a worker’s pay, schedule, job duties, or other

When two or more businesses determine or have control over a worker’s pay, schedule, job duties, or other important terms and conditions of employment, the joint-employer doctrine allows them both to be held accountable as employers and responsible for violations of employment and labor laws (von Wilpert 2018):

What is prevailing wage?

Prevailing wage laws seek to ensure that government contractors pay wages that are comparable to the local norms for a given trade when those contractors are working on public construction and certain other contracts. Without prevailing wage requirements, contractors can win bids on government contracts by reducing their workers’ wages rather than competing on the basis of efficiency and management skills, materials costs, or the productivity of their workforce. Even after taking into account cost-of-living differences, median wages in construction are almost 7 percent lower in states where there is no prevailing wage law (Eisenbrey and Kroeger 2017).

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Summary

  • State attorneys general can be key allies in protecting workers’ rights. While there are variations in the structure, resources, and jurisdiction of state attorney general offices, these offices often have a range of powers that can enable them to play a key role in advancing and defending workplace protections by ensuring that employers comply with the law. This report describes some of the …
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General Background on State Attorneys General

  • All 50 states and the District of Columbia, as well as Puerto Rico and other territories, have attorneys general. Although 43 of these attorneys general are elected statewide on a partisan basis, the staffs of these offices are generally career and operate in a professional, nonpolitical manner.2 Within the variety of office structures, most state attorney general offices have the foll…
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Roles of State Attorneys General in Protecting Workers’ Rights

  • Enforcement of laws to protect workers
    Using their authority to enforce state laws, state attorneys general have played an affirmative role in protecting workplace rights. Some state attorneys general are granted explicit civil or criminal enforcement jurisdiction. For example, the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Fair Labor Divisio…
  • Representing state labor agencies in court
    A core function of state attorneys general is representing the state in court. Offices may defend labor agencies in their enforcement of state laws when employers challenge that enforcement in court, or they may defend agency decisions in unemployment or workers’ compensation cases. …
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Conclusion

  • State attorney general offices can be key allies in protecting workers’ rights. While there is variation in their structure, resources, and jurisdiction, state attorneys general have a range of powers that can enable them to play a leading role in ensuring legal compliance by employers and advancing and defending workplace protections.
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Acknowledgments

  • The authors would like to acknowledge Faisal Sheikh of the American Constitution Society for his work on An Overview of State Attorney General Labor Jurisdiction(Gerstein and Sheikh 2017), which helped inform this report.
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About The Authors

  • Terri Gersteinis an Open Society Foundations Leadership in Government Fellow and a Fellow at the Harvard Law School Labor and Worklife Program. Previously, she worked for over 17 years enforcing labor laws in New York State, including as a Deputy Commissioner of Labor and most recently as Labor Bureau Chief for Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. Before her government …
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Endnotes

  • 1. Those states are: California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas. See Cooper and Kroeger 2017. 2. See the StateAG.orgwebsite. 3. FLA. CONST. art. X, § 24(e) (2004) (“The state attorney general or other official designated by the state legislature may also bring a civil action to enforce this amendment.”); OHIO CONST. art. II, Secti…
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References

  • Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Various years. Current Employment Statistics (CES) [public data series]. Data from the CES are available through the CES National Databases and through series reports. Carré, Françoise. 2015. (In)dependent Contractor Misclassification. Economic Policy Institute, June 2015. Colvin, Alexander J.S. 2017. The Growing Use of Mandatory Arbitration: Ac…
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