Articles Discussing The Department Of Labor.

The Trump campaign promised regulatory reform, and most experts expected the new administration would target some of the Department of Labor regulations, enforcement actions, and guidances under the Obama administration that impacted the employer and employee relationship. As predicted, under the leadership of new Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta, the DOL is reviewing and revising the current regulatory regime.

In response to recent presidential directives, the U.S. Department of Labor is taking steps to delay the applicability and effective dates of two rules. First, the DOL’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) has proposed to extend by 60 days the applicability date of the rule defining who is a “fiduciary” under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). EBSA is also soliciting comments on the issues raised in President Trump’s February 3, 2017 memorandum on the fiduciary duty rule, which called for the agency to update its economic and legal analysis regarding the rule’s impact. Second, the DOL’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is proposing to push back the effective date of its rule regulating occupational exposure to beryllium.

Acosta is expected to have a smoother path to confirmation because he has previously been confirmed by the Senate to three positions—National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board) Member, Assistant Attorney General, and U.S. Attorney.

President-elect Donald Trump has formally named Andy Puzder as his choice to be the next Secretary of Labor. Currently the CEO of CKE Restaurants, the parent company to several fast-food chains, Puzder is a long-time advocate for job creation.

The Department of Labor and FAR Council have released, for publication tomorrow, final guidance and regulations implementing Executive Order 13673: Fair Pay & Safe Workplaces (also colloquially referred to as the Blacklisting Executive Order.)

Employers must immediately update their federal labor law posters. The United States Department of Labor, with little notice, issued new posters related to the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Employee Polygraph Protection Act.

The changing nature of employment, including the move to more online-based commerce, has increased the number of on-demand or “gig” workers. Estimates vary as to the number of workers in the so-called gig economy, but most place this number in the millions. Not surprisingly, the U.S. Department of Labor now seeks an official government record of these on-demand workers. This week, Labor Secretary Thomas Perez announced that the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in conjunction with the Census Bureau, will revive the Contingent Worker Supplement to the Current Population Survey in an attempt to capture a more accurate picture of the workforce.

With the DOL’s persuader rule nearing final publication, 90 trade associations representing millions of employers sent a letter to the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) on Friday asking that the rulemaking be returned to the DOL and consolidated with a separate proposal.

After years in regulatory limbo, the Department of Labor’s final revisions to the so-called “persuader” rule have moved one step closer to publication. On December 7, the DOL’s Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS) submitted the final rule to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which is the final step before the rule can be published in the Federal Register. Although the DOL’s regulatory agenda had estimated this rule would be published in March 2016, given the OMB’s traditional review timetable, the measure could be released even earlier in 2016. If the final rule resembles the proposal issued in 2011, it will have a significant impact on employers.

Both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees advanced bills this week to fund various federal agencies for FY 2016. Each chamber approved versions of spending measures that include riders prohibiting funding for a variety of the administration’s regulatory initiatives.

The day after the House Appropriations Committee held a hearing to discuss the Department of Labor’s budget proposal for FY 2016, a separate House committee put Labor Secretary Thomas Perez in the hot seat over the same issue. Members of the House Education and the Workforce Committee posed to Perez many of the same questions asked of him during yesterday’s hearing, but did veer into some new territory, particularly with respect to pending regulations governing overtime and changes to the so-called fiduciary rule.

Members of the House Committee on Appropriations on Tuesday asked Labor Secretary Thomas Perez about various Department of Labor plans and initiatives during a hearing to discuss the department’s fiscal year 2016 budget request. Under the President’s FY 2016 request, the DOL would receive $13.2 billion in discretionary funding. Various committee members asked Perez to explain his priorities, as well as the status of pending activities.

The revised Senate rule allowing certain presidential nominations to be confirmed with a simple majority vote – previously ridiculed as the “nuclear option” – enabled the Senate on Monday to confirm David Weil as the next administrator of the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD). The vote was 51-42 in favor of his nomination.

House lawmakers raised pointed questions concerning the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and the Wage and Hour Division during an appropriations subcommittee hearing on the Department of Labor’s FY 2015 budget request. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez responded to numerous inquiries as the sole witness during the exchange. A similar hearing was conducted last week by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, during which many of the same issues were highlighted. The tone of Wednesday’s appropriations hearing, however, was markedly more contentious.

Perhaps due to the increased scrutiny business advocacy groups have placed on the implications of the DOL’s anticipated revisions to the “persuader” regulations, the agency has said it is once again delaying the final rule’s release.