DOL Official Represented Steel Co. in Court While on Job (1)

A Labor Department official continued to represent a business in a private lawsuit against a worker union after joining the Trump administration, raising concerns about whether he used the power of his office for leverage, Bloomberg Law has learned.

Assistant Deputy Secretary Michael Avakian was suspended without pay for two weeks last year for “bad judgment,” a Labor Department spokeswoman told Bloomberg Law. The former management attorney worked on a lawsuit against an Ironworkers local in Indiana for three months after taking the job at the DOL, court records show.

“After a review, Department career ethics officials determined that Michael ...