Punching In: Tracking Labor Secretary Walsh’s Early Meetings

Monday morning musings for workplace watchers

Where’s Walsh? | Foxx on Attack

Rebecca Rainey: It seems everyone wants to know where Labor Secretary Marty Walsh is after reports surfaced late last year that the former Boston mayor may have been eyeing a run for Massachusetts governor. While Walsh has since confirmed he won’t be leaving the Biden administration anytime soon, he spent more than half of his first eight months in office working from Boston, according to a review of the secretary’s schedules from March to October 2021.

Walsh’s schedules before October 2021 are posted on the Labor Department website. But Republican lawmakers have repeatedly requested copies of the secretary’s public schedule beyond October 2021, and the DOL has been slow to respond to Bloomberg Law’s public records request for his calendars after that date.

Based on the public records available, Walsh was in Washington, D.C., 49 days out of the first 223 days of his tenure and spent 45 days on the road, visiting Las Vegas and Pennsylvania most frequently.

Republicans have slammed Walsh’s living arrangements and status in D.C. “American workers should always be the primary focus of the Secretary of Labor,” GOP Reps. Virginia Foxx (N.C.) and James Comer (Ky.) wrote in a December letter to Walsh. “We are concerned that your calendars suggest your focus is elsewhere.”

It’s worth noting, however, that the federal DOL was only permitting up to 25% of staff to report in person—and only if they were conducting “mission-critical work” that couldn’t be done via telework—during Walsh’s first months.

Paige Smith, Bloomberg Law

According to his early calendars, Walsh chatted frequently with top Democrats on Congressional labor committees, including Washington Sen. Patty Murray (six meetings), and Virginia Rep. Bobby Scott (seven meetings).

Not surprisingly, Walsh met with or attended events with former or current Democrat officials on 104 occasions, compared to meeting with seven Republicans during that same time, although attendees at certain events may not have been listed on the calendar.

Walsh also was in touch with Seth Harris, President Joe Biden’s top labor adviser, twice in March and once in April 2021, according to the calendars.

The secretary had at least 140 calendar entries for events with labor or worker-focused groups, and met with businesses or industry groups at least 45 times.

Other important meetings:

• Walsh in June met with former DOL Chief Economist Janelle Jones to talk about inflation, just a month before before the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics would report that the Consumer Price Index had increased 0.9% in June, the largest month-to-month jump since 2008 when the index rose 1.0 percentage point.
• The secretary also met with New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez in September, and talked to top gig-economy companies Uber Techonologies Inc., Lyft Inc., and DoorDash in May.

Walsh “has spent the last year working toward one goal—empowering all workers, morning, noon and night. He has engaged with a diverse group of Congressional members, both Democratic and Republican,” Jesse Lawder, deputy assistant secretary of labor for public affairs, said in a statement. “He has engaged with workers, with businesses, and with advocates on all sides of the Labor Department’s work, and has travelled to well over 60 cities in 30 states. Secretary Walsh believes this level of engagement is how we can have the biggest impact in our work, whether it’s enforcing labor laws, training workers for their next career, or working to ensure our historic economic recovery is an equitable one.”

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) speaks during a news conference in March.

Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Paige Smith: House Education and Labor Committee ranking member Foxx has stepped up to serve as the cop on the beat for monitoring labor agencies during the Biden administration.

Since the beginning of November, her signature has been on at least eight letters to the U.S. Department of Labor, the National Labor Relations Board, and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Foxx, often working with other lawmakers, has inquired about topics ranging from Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh’s travel schedule to actions taken by NLRB member David Prouty.

At least four of the letters were penned in just the last two months, and more are on the way, according to Foxx.

“The words ‘oversight’ and ‘accountability’ have never been positively associated with federal labor agencies under this administration,” Foxx told Bloomberg Law by email. “From the firings of NLRB General Counsel Peter Robb and EEOC General Counsel Sharon Fast Gustafson to Labor Secretary Walsh’s inappropriate participation on the picket line to EEOC putting government union bosses ahead of workplace discrimination claimants, no matter where you turn, the stench of maladministration never goes away.”

All agencies have independent inspectors general to oversee agency actions, but calls from Capitol Hill can serve as another check. Democrats took similar actions during the Trump administration, as ranking members often do.

“We have a duty to hardworking taxpayers in this country not only to weed out this scourge of incompetence, but also to ensure that both accountability and oversight are not forsaken,” Foxx said. “It’s undeniable that these two fundamental principles beget good governance.”

The nine-term Republican just last week requested information about the EEOC’s return to office plans more than two years after its workers were asked to work from home due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“With no offices open for claimants to file their discrimination charges and no publicly available plans outlining EEOC’s return to regular operations, we are concerned the Commission is not meeting its obligations to workers,” Foxx said in the March 23 letter. “We therefore ask you to bring EEOC personnel back to in-person service and re-open all offices throughout the country immediately.”

Kentucky’s Comer, ranking member on the House Oversight and Reform Committee, also signed on to the EEOC letter.

More oversight action is expected, Foxx said, as she continues to closely monitor the Democrats’ moves.

“If this administration believes that Republicans will pump the brakes on our inquiries soon, and that we’ll go quietly into the night, it is sorely mistaken,” she said. “We’re putting our foot down on the accelerator, and there is much more to come.”

NLRB and DOL representatives declined to comment.

An EEOC spokesperson said in a statement the agency is reviewing Foxx’s letter.

Senior leaders “will begin returning to the physical workplace starting on March 28, 2022. Other managers and supervisors will begin returning on April 4 and non-supervisory, non-bargaining unit employees will begin their return to the office starting April 11. All other employees also will receive at least 30 days’ prior notice of their expected return dates,” the spokesperson said.

We’re punching out. Daily Labor Report subscribers, please check in for updates during the week, and feel free to reach out to us.