Shared Privileged Case Files With Outside Law Firms
Summary
The Labor Department's Office of Inspector General, in a June 30, 2026 performance audit (report 09-26-001-08-001), found that the Office of the Solicitor, the Employee Benefits Security Administration, and the Wage and Hour Division shared confidential investigative information with non-governmental entities through 48 'common interest agreements' between January 2023 and June 2025 -- with no written policies, no centralized tracking system, and no framework to screen the government attorneys involved for conflicts of interest. Auditors verified that witness statements from one EBSA and one Wage and Hour investigation reached an outside law firm that could not have obtained them under normal discovery rules.
A count the Department couldn't confirm
Because no office kept a central record, the count itself moved: the three agencies first identified 45 agreements⧉; SOL then 'discovered three additional agreements it had not provided,' making 48. Auditors said the lack of tracking meant they 'could not verify that the universe of agreements provided was complete.' WHD accounted for 41 of the 48⧉ -- about 85 percent -- versus 7 for EBSA, the office the original congressional inquiry targeted.
View data as table
| Wage and Hour Division | 41 | Sole or joint signatory on the large majority of agreements |
|---|---|---|
| EBSA | 7 | The retirement- and health-plan enforcer at the center of the Committee's request |
Three controls, none in place
The audit⧉ checked the program against three basic controls and found each missing: no written policies for how agreements were made and monitored, no centralized tracking system, and no framework to screen attorneys for conflicts of interest. It was not hypothetical -- identified two cases⧉ where an attorney's movement between and an outside entity 'may have created at least an appearance of bias,' and one agreement signed by a WHD staffer who lacked the authority to do so⧉.
View data as table
| Written policies and procedures | 0 | No formal policies governing how agreements were developed, executed, or monitored |
|---|---|---|
| Centralized tracking systems | 0 | No agency- or Department-level record; agreements sat in individual case files |
| Conflict-of-interest screening frameworks | 0 | SOL did not track attorneys' prior or subsequent private employment |
What reached the law firms
shared documents from one EBSA and one WHD case before litigation began. verified that witness statements from those same two investigations reached an outside law firm⧉ that would not have obtained them through normal discovery. The review covered 13 of the 48 agreements⧉ and only documented emails -- offices didn't log verbal conversations, so auditors couldn't rule out undocumented sharing beyond that sample.
agreed with all eight OIG recommendations⧉ -- written policies, conflict screening, a tracking system -- and conceded its use of the agreements 'created an appearance of impropriety and presented reputational and potential legal risks.' EBSA began tracking agreements in January 2025.
- 's Office of the Solicitor, EBSA, and the Wage and Hour Division entered 48 common interest agreements sharing confidential investigative information with non-governmental entities between January 2023 and June 2025, with no written policies, no centralized tracking, and no conflict-of-interest screening framework -- per - report 09-26-001-08-001 (June 30, 2026).
- The count was itself uncertain: the agencies first reported 45 agreements, SOL found three more during the audit, and said the lack of tracking meant it could not verify even 48 was complete. The Wage and Hour Division accounted for 41 of the 48; EBSA, the focus of the congressional request, for 7.
- By the Department's own answers, shared documents from one EBSA case and one WHD case before litigation, and verified that witness statements from one EBSA and one WHD investigation reached an outside law firm that could not have obtained them under normal discovery rules.
- 's 'no inappropriate sharing found' conclusion is high confidence only for the 13 sampled agreements' documented electronic records; because did not log verbal interactions, the auditors could not rule out undocumented sharing. SOL, EBSA, and WHD agreed with all eight recommendations, and conceded an appearance of impropriety.
This piece reports a systemic oversight-and-controls finding in the Inspector General's own audit. It attributes the finding to the responsible offices -- the Office of the Solicitor, EBSA, and the Wage and Hour Division -- acting in their official capacity, and it does not name any individual attorney, employee, non-governmental entity, or law firm, whether or not the underlying record does. Every figure traces to report 09-26-001-08-001, hosted on oig.dol.gov.
Sources(2) ▾
- U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, DOL Needs Stronger Oversight and Controls for Sharing Confidential Information (2026-06-30) — The - performance audit, report 09-26-001-08-001, dated June 30, 2026, initiated at the request of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce (November 2024 and January 2025) and the Deputy Secretary of Labor. It is the primary source for every load-bearing figure in this piece: that the Office of the Solicitor (SOL), the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), and the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) entered 48 common interest agreements with non-governmental entities between January 1, 2023 and June 30, 2025 (Table 1); that the agencies had no formal policies and procedures, no coordination framework, and no tracking mechanisms; that SOL established no framework to screen the attorneys involved for conflicts of interest or bias, and identified two appearance-of-conflict scenarios; that made eight recommendations, all of which SOL, EBSA, and WHD agreed to; and, in the Exhibit 1 answers to the Committee's questions, that shared documents from one EBSA case and one WHD case before initiating litigation, that witness statements from one EBSA and one WHD investigation reached an outside law firm that could not have obtained them under normal discovery rules, and that investigative information was shared with four law firms in all. oig.dol.gov · original document
- U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Education and the Workforce, Letter from the Committee on Education and the Workforce to the DOL Inspector General re: EBSA information-sharing with plaintiffs' attorneys (2024-11-21) — The November 21, 2024 oversight request letter from the House Committee on Education and the Workforce to the Inspector General that triggered the audit. Cited here only to corroborate that the audit originated in a congressional request about EBSA and SOL sharing confidential information with plaintiffs' attorneys during class-action litigation -- a fact the report itself states in 'Why We Did the Audit.' No load-bearing figure in this article rests on this letter, and it names private individuals and a private firm whom this piece deliberately does not. edworkforce.house.gov · original document
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The Labor Department shared confidential investigative material with outside law firms under legal arrangements it could not fully account for. A June 30, 2026 OIG audit⧉ (report 09-26-001-08-001) found 's Office of the Solicitor (SOL), EBSA, and the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) entered 48 'common interest agreements' with non-governmental entities between January 2023 and June 2025 -- with 'no formal policies and procedures, a framework for internal coordination, and tracking mechanisms.'