Punching In: DOL’s Quiet Regulation Rollback Raises Eyebrows

Monday morning musings for workplace watchers.

Democrat Wants Details on Deregulation | Slow Progress of NLRB GC

Rebecca Rainey: With little fanfare the US Labor Department advanced more than two dozen proposals last week, including rules to cancel minimum wage and overtime eligibility for certain health aides, anti-discrimination requirements for apprenticeship, and the regulations underpinning the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs.

DOL officials dropped notice of the major de-regulatory push last week without a press conference or public announcement, triggering questions from a key lawmaker.

Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), the ranking member of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, requested in a letter shared exclusively with Punching In that Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer brief his panel before July 9.

Scott in particular raised concern about the limited details surrounding a child labor rulemaking pending at the White House budget office. Currently only a title of the proposal is available, but it indicates the DOL plans to revise rules that set limits on the hours children can work and restrictions on the types of occupations minors can work in.

DOL’s current regulations bar minors from working in certain “hazardous occupations” like mining or using power driven machinery, and limit the hours younger teens can work during the school year.

Scott also noted that the proposal would contradict Chavez-DeRemer’s promises to “combat all child labor exploitation” during a June 5 committee hearing.

“Committee Democrats did ask you about your plans on one of the draft rulemaking topic under consideration, child labor; however, your response did not affirmatively state you would oppose rolling back child labor rules,” Scott said in the letter.

Scott’s inquiry follows one of the busiest weeks the DOL has seen under the new Trump administration, with Chavez-DeRemer announcing a plan to advance 63 “deregulatory actions.”

“The Department of Labor is proud to lead the way by eliminating unnecessary regulations that stifle growth and limit opportunity,” Chavez-DeRemer said in a statement on the initiative.

This was the most substantial policy development we’ve seen at the DOL under Trump 2.0, but it was announced without a major public event, with Chavez-DeRemer zeroed in on promoting Republicans’ tax bill last week.

The DOL had initially planned to roll out the announcement during Chavez-DeRemer’s visit to Shafer, a concrete supplier, in Michigan as part of her “America at Work” tour. The deregulation plan announcement was eventually rescheduled to a ceremony at the DOL’s Washington, D.C. headquarters, which was later postponed.

The agency instead opted to trumpet the effort in a press release.

The DOL didn’t respond to Punching In’s request for comment on the switch up.

Chavez-DeRemer in the press release said that her agency’s plan is “the most ambitious proposal to slash red tape of any department across the federal government” and delivers on President Donald Trump’s executive order directing agencies to cut 10 regulations for every new one issued.

Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer before the House Committee on Education and Workforce.

Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Robert Iafolla: The Trump administration’s pick for general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board remains on the sidelines more than 100 days after the White House officially kicked off her nomination.

While Morgan, Lewis, & Bockius LLP lawyer Crystal Carey is expected to lead an effort to dismantle worker-friendly NLRB precedents set during the Biden administration, she still needs the approval of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee before she gets a confirmation vote.

The board has been without a functioning quorum for most of the year, thanks to Trump’s first-ever firing of a sitting board member. And separate to member Gwynne Wilcox’s removal, Trump hasn’t named any candidates for the two open Republican seats, a likely prerequisite to the board to reworking Biden-era case law.

NLRB Chair Marvin Kaplan said nominations to fill the vacant board seats are “imminent” nearly a month ago.

In the meantime, acting General Counsel William Cowen continues to guide the NLRB’s legal division. He’s issued several policy memos, including one repealing a slew of former GC Jennifer Abruzzo’s pro-worker directives.

There would be many benefits to Carey joining the agency absent a functioning board or new GOP majority, said Jerry Hunter, NLRB general counsel during the George H.W. Bush administration.

Not only would she have plenty of work in light of the NLRB still processing cases up through any appeal to the board, she also has to go through a breaking-in period necessary to become familiar with the personnel and the processes of the GC’s office, said Hunter, now an attorney at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP.

“You can read all kinds of memos and look at all kinds of organizational charts, but you won’t have a connection until you get there and start working with the people in the general counsel’s office, especially the top administrators,” he said.

Carey didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Her languishing nomination stands in contrast to the swift progress of Trump’s pick for NLRB general counsel in his first term.

Peter Robb was approved by the Senate HELP Committee 13 days before his predecessor’s term expired on Oct. 31, 2017. He won Senate confirmation a week after the general counsel’s seat was ready for him.

Senate HELP Committee spokesperson Ty Bofferding said a hearing for Carey hasn’t been noticed, but didn’t share any other details.