Late last week, the Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division (WHD) and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced that the two agencies had partnered with each other for purposes of enhancing their enforcement capabilities. In order to facilitate more cooperation – and “improve the enforcement process of the laws they administer and reaffirm[s] their commitment to ensure the rights and protections of workers” – DOL’s WHD and the NLRB signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) back in December. With the execution of the MOU, they agencies formally created the partnership with the expressed goal of ensuring “that employers pay workers their rightful wages and that workers can take collective action to improve their working conditions without fear of retaliation.” The purpose of the MOU, as stated early on in the document, is specifically to improve the enforcement process of the laws they administer and reaffirm their commitment to ensure the right and protections of workers. The statement attributed to the “hanging judge’, Judge Roy Bean, that “You’ll get a fair hearing followed by a first class hanging,” springs to mind!