p> In the 1990s, there are well in excess of 50 quasi independent federal agencies ranging from the African Development Foundation to the Federal Reserve Board, from the American Battle Monuments Commission to the National Labor Relations Board, and from the Commission on Fine Arts to the Central Intelligence Agency. A total of over one million persons are employed by the quasi independent agencies of the federal government of the United States. In the context of the number of employees, the United States Postal Service is the largest with more than 800,000 employees. The total of the annual budgets for the quasi independent agencies exceeds $32 billion.3 The agency with the largest annual budget is the Environmental Protection Agency.4
2Peter Woll, American Bureaucracy, 3rd ed. (New York: W. W. Norton, 1991), 35.
3United States Treasury Department Financial Management Service, United States Budget Receipts and Outlays 1992 (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1993), 5.
The Responsibilities of Selected Agencies
The responsibilities of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Social Security Administration, and the National Labor Relations Board of the United States Department of Labor are considered in this section. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is charged with the administration of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 as amended.4 This agency directly affects the actions of employers and employees with respect to workplace safety and health conditions.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was established under the provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.5 This agency directly affects the actions of employers and employees with respect to the conditions of employment related to racial and ethnic background, national origin, and disabilities. The National Labor Relations Board of the United States Depar...