On March 29, 2018, ProPublica reported that several advisory boards at the Department of Labor (DOL) have been suspended or disbanded. These include the Federal Advisory Council on Occupational Safety and Health, which was established in 1971 to advise the DOL on workplace safety, health, and whistleblower protections. After nearly fifty years in operation, the council was allowed to expire in September 2017, and its members effectively fired.
Various other DOL advisory boards have not been officially disbanded, but have had their operations suspended. According to the ProPublica report, none of the boards has met in at least nine months, and some have not met for more than one year.