29 C.F.R. §§ 2.21–2.24

Whenever an employee or former employee of the Department receives a demand for the production of material or the disclosure of information described in § 2.20(a), he shall immediately notify the appropriate Office of the Solicitor. The appropriate Office of the Solicitor shall be furnished by the party causing the subpoena to be issued with a written summary of the information sought and its relevance to the proceeding in connection with which it was served. The Associate Solicitor, Regional Solicitor, or Associate Regional Solicitor, whichever is appropriate, may waive the requirement that a written summary be furnished where he or she deems it to be unnecessary. The election to waive the requirement of a written summary in no way constitutes a waiver of any other requirement set forth in this subpart.

In terms of instructing an employee or former employee of the manner in which to respond to a demand, the Associate Solicitor, Regional Solicitor, or Associate Regional Solicitor, whichever is applicable, shall follow the instructions of the appropriate Deputy Solicitor of Labor. No employee or former employee of the Department of Labor shall, in response to a demand of a court or other authority, produce any material contained in the files of the Department or disclose any information relating to material contained in the files of the Department, or disclose any information or produce any material acquired as part of the performance of his official duties or because of his official status without approval of the appropriate Deputy Solicitor of Labor.

If the response to the demand is required before the instructions from the appropriate Deputy Solicitor of Labor are received, a Department attorney or other government attorney designated for the purpose shall appear with the employee or former employee of the Department upon whom the demand has been made, and shall furnish the court or other authority with a copy of the regulations contained in this subpart and inform the court or other authority that the demand has been, or is being, as the case may be, referred for the prompt consideration of the appropriate Deputy Solicitor of Labor and shall respectfully request the court or other authority to stay the demand pending receipt of the requested instructions.

If the court or other authority declines to stay the effect of the demand in response to a request made in accordance with § 2.23 pending receipt of instructions, or if the court or other authority rules that the demand must be complied with irrespective of instructions not to produce the material or disclose the information sought, the employee or former employee upon whom the demand has been made shall respectfully decline to comply with the demand, “United States ex rel Touhy v. Ragen,” 340 US. 462.