EEOC Has Full Complement of 5 Commissioners

For the first time since 2014, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has no vacancies to be filled on its 5-member Board. This week, the US Senate confirmed the remaining nominees – 2 republican members and 1 democratic nominee thereby putting the agency at full capacity. On Wednesday, the Senate confirmed the two republican nominees,…

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NLRB Tightens Union Elections Rules

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) this week proposed yet another change to the legal parameters governing union elections, continuing to refine that process. The major change published in the Federal Register this week would eliminate the requirement that employers provide available personal email addresses and telephone numbers of all eligible voters during a union…

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Scalia Confirmed as Secretary of Labor

Yesterday as expected, the US Senate confirmed attorney Eugene Scalia as the 28th Secretary of Labor in US history. Scalia, the son of the late conservative Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia, was nominated by President Trump back in July of this year after former Labor Secretary Alex Acosta resigned the post. The party-line confirmation vote…

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Trump Labor Nominee Scalia Hearing Held

President Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Labor as Secretary of Labor, Eugene Scalia was before the US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions yesterday for his confirmation hearing. Scalia, the son of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, has been a partner at the management side law firm of Gibson,…

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Trump Nominates Scalia for Labor

President Trump formally submitted the nomination of Eugene Scalia as Secretary of Labor to the United States Senate for confirmation this week. Scalia, the son of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has extensive experience as a management side attorney and frequently challenged labor regulations that he saw as too labor-friendly. A labor lawyer…

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OSHA Nominee Withdraws

File it under the heading “Enough is enough!”, as President Trump’s nominee to head the Occupational Safety and Hazard Administration, Scott Mugno,  has withdrawn his name from consideration. A former FedEx safety executive, the Mugno nomination (filed in 2017) was caught up in a tug-of-war between the Congress and the White House over a host…

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EEOC Gets Quorum, For Time Being

The US Senate Wednesday confirmed Janet Dhillon for a seat on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission by a 50-43 vote, giving the agency a three-seat quorum for the first time since January.  How long that quorum will last, remains to be seen. Dhillon, nominated by President Trump in June, 2017, was confirmed for one of…

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Senate Standoff Continues as Gaston Pearce Withdraws

The ranking member on the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pension Committee, democratic Senator Patty Murray reaffirmed this week that she will continue to block Republican labor nominees unless/until the Republican majority approves democrat nominees. In light of the ongoing standoff, which has blocked hundreds of federal appointments over the past few years, former NLRB…

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Trump Resubmits Nominees to Senate

President Donald Trump re-submitted a host of nominations for a number of labor and other positions to the Senate this week. Many of the nominees were caught in a standoff between the White House and democratic senators over pending nominations: essentially, where the republican Senate majority did not confirm a number of democratic nominees, then…

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Senatorial Shutdown?

Well, not formally, but as far as confirmation of Presidential nominees is concerned, it might as well be. As the partial government shutdown enters its 3rd full week, the Senate’s block on the re-nomination of democratic Equal Employment Opportunity Commissioner Chai Feldblum is complete with her term expiring after nine years with the agency. President…

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