29 U.S.C. § 3
Section 3 · Commissioner; appointment and tenure of office; compensation
Amended 4 times on record
Applied in 17 court decisions — leading case Reich v. ConAgra, Inc. (1993)
Most recently applied in Petersen v. Mabus (June 2015)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics shall be under the charge of a Commissioner of Labor Statistics, who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate; he shall hold his office for four years, unless sooner removed, and shall receive a salary.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Codification
Act June 13, 1888, raised salary from $3,000 to $5,000 per annum.
Act Mar. 18, 1904, changed name of Department of Labor to Bureau of Labor.
Act Mar. 4, 1913, authorized the substitution of “Commissioner of Labor Statistics” and “Bureau of Labor Statistics” for “Commissioner of Labor” and “Bureau of Labor”, respectively.
Words “of five thousand dollars per annum” at end of section were omitted as superseded by the Classification Acts. See sections 5101 et seq. and 5331 et seq. of Title 5, Government Organization and Employees.
Transfer of Functions
For transfer of functions of other officers, employees, and agencies of Department of Labor, with certain exceptions, to Secretary of Labor, with power to delegate, see Reorg. Plan No. 6 of 1950, §§1, 2, 15 F.R. 3174, 64 Stat. 1263, set out in the Appendix to Title 5, Government Organization and Employees.