In its first 100 days in office, the Biden administration has advanced its policy priorities, many of which have involved repealing the policy accomplishments of the previous presidential administration. The Biden...more
5/21/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Executive Orders ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Graduate Students ,
H-1B ,
H-4 Spouses ,
Independent Contractors ,
Joint Employers ,
Legislative Agendas ,
NLRB ,
OFCCP ,
OIRA ,
OSHA ,
Popular ,
Presidential Nominations ,
Prevailing Wages ,
Public Charge ,
Religious Exemption ,
Revocation ,
Student Employees ,
Tipped Employees ,
Trump Administration ,
Unions ,
USCIS ,
Wage and Hour
Infrastructure Plan Scuttlebutt. With Congress not returning to Washington, D.C., until next week, the White House’s American Jobs Plan proposal is still driving much of the political discussion in town this week. Of course,...more
4/12/2021
/ American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 ,
COBRA ,
Congressional Review Act ,
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Emergency Rule ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Filibuster ,
Infrastructure ,
Midnight Rules Relief ,
New Guidance ,
OSHA ,
Persuader Rules ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Social Security Administration (SSA) ,
Trump Administration ,
U.S. Treasury
Administration Debuts Infrastructure Package. Just weeks after enacting the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act, the Biden administration this week unveiled the American Jobs Plan - its $2.3 trillion infrastructure...more
4/5/2021
/ American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 ,
Baseball ,
Biden Administration ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
E-3 ,
EEO-1 ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
H-1B ,
H-1B1 ,
Highly-Skilled Workers Visa ,
Immigration Procedures ,
Infrastructure ,
Internal Investigations ,
L-1 Visas ,
NLRB ,
Presidential Nominations ,
Prevailing Wages ,
Trump Administration ,
Unfair Labor Practices ,
Visas
There is an old saying in Washington, D.C., that personnel is policy. It is common sense: whoever is in charge of a federal agency or subagency will impart his or her own particular policy preferences on the agency’s...more
Administration Limits Nonimmigrant Visas. On June 22, 2020, President Trump issued a Proclamation Suspending Entry of Aliens Who Present a Risk to the U.S. Labor Market Following the Coronavirus Outbreak. The proclamation...more
6/29/2020
/ Collective Bargaining ,
Congressional Review Act ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Executive Orders ,
Foreign Nationals ,
H-1B ,
H-2B ,
Immigration Procedures ,
J-1 Visas ,
L-Visas ,
Liquidated Damages ,
NLRB ,
Trump Administration ,
US Department of State ,
Visas
SCOTUS: Title VII Protects LGBTQ and Transgender Employees. On June 15, 2020, the Supreme Court of the United States released its historical decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, holding that discrimination against...more
6/19/2020
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Arbitrary and Capricious ,
Citizenship ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
DACA ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Department of Homeland Security v Regents of the University of California ,
Educational Institutions ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
OSHA ,
Path To Citizenship ,
Re-Opening Guidelines ,
Rescission ,
SCOTUS ,
Trump Administration ,
Trump v NAACP ,
USCIS ,
Visas ,
Wolf v Vidal ,
Work Permits
Administration Releases FY2021 Budget. D.C. policy watchers dove headfirst into President Donald Trump’s 2021 budget this week, looking for clues and insights into where the administration may be heading in a variety of...more
Where is Everybody? Perhaps due to the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, it’s been a relatively quiet week in the labor and employment arena in Washington, D.C. President Trump and U.S. Secretary of Labor Eugene...more
1/27/2020
/ Congressional Investigations & Hearings ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
EEO-1 ,
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ,
Enforcement Authority ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Final Rules ,
Immigration and Nationality Act ,
Impeachment ,
Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA) ,
Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) ,
OMB ,
OSHA ,
Trump Administration
Close Call. On November 21, 2019, President Donald Trump signed a continuing resolution to keep the federal government open through December 20, 2019. Given the pervasiveness of brinksmanship in Congress these days, the Buzz...more
11/25/2019
/ Continuing Resolution ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employee Benefits ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Funding ,
NLRB ,
NPRM ,
OSHA ,
Trump Administration ,
USCIS ,
Wage & Hour Division (WHD) ,
Workplace Safety
Wage and Hour Rulemaking News. June 12, 2019, was the deadline for submission of public comments in response to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour’s Division’s (WHD) proposed changes to clarify what forms of payment...more
6/17/2019
/ Age Discrimination ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Equal Pay Act ,
Federal Vacancies Reform Act ,
Multiemployer Plan ,
Multiple Employer Plan (MEP) ,
Offshore Drilling ,
Parker Drilling Management Services Ltd v Newton ,
Presidential Appointments ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Public Comment ,
SCOTUS ,
Trump Administration ,
USCIS ,
Wage and Hour ,
Workplace Violence Prevention Programs
Shutdown Stalemate. Today marks day 21 of the partial federal government shutdown. Assuming that no deal is struck today, by tomorrow the shutdown will be the longest in our nation’s history....more
Congress Returns. While New York has an awesome duck, Washington, D.C., has a lame duck. Yes, Congress returned this week for its post-election lame-duck session....more
11/19/2018
/ Ambush Election Rules ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Joint Employers ,
Lame Duck Session ,
Legislative Agendas ,
NLRB ,
OIRA ,
Political Parties ,
Presidential Nominations ,
Senate Confirmation Hearings ,
Tipped Employees ,
Trump Administration
ALJs A-OK at NLRB. In a June 2018 case called Lucia v. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) administrative law judges (ALJs) were not...more
Always a Bridesmaid... Well, the Buzz waited patiently for an important call on Monday night, but we were passed over (again). Instead, President Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh—currently a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals...more
Agency Overhaul Proposal Announced. On June 21, the Trump administration issued a sweeping proposal to consolidate and streamline federal agencies. Of particular significance to the Buzz is the proposal to combine the...more
Omnibus Speeds Through. More than six months into the current fiscal year, earlier today President Trump signed a massive omnibus spending bill that will fund the federal government through September 30. This means that a...more
3/26/2018
/ Appropriations Bill ,
DACA ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Budget ,
H-1B ,
Joint Employers ,
NLRB ,
OSHRC ,
Trump Administration ,
USCIS
DACA Deadline Day. To the surprise of almost no one, March 5 has come and gone, and Congress did not reach a deal on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) issue. This Congress has enough trouble agreeing on...more
Déjà Vu All Over Again? It is perhaps fitting that last Friday was Groundhog Day, as this week we relived the same government funding battle that we went through just a few weeks ago. Thankfully, because the shutdown card has...more
2/12/2018
/ Administrative Interpretation ,
Criminal Background Checks ,
DACA ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Federal Contractors ,
Government Shutdown ,
Multi-Employer Pensions ,
NLRB ,
Paid Leave ,
Political Parties ,
Tip-Pooling ,
Trump Administration ,
Wage and Hour
Crisis (Largely) Averted. On the evening of January 22, President Trump signed a continuing resolution that ended the brief weekend government shutdown and that will keep the lights on and trains running until February 8. It...more
Tax Bill or Health Bill? It’s Two Bills in One! Caught in a legislative black hole, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) cannot escape efforts to eradicate it—or at least large chunks of it. ...more
11/20/2017
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Affordable Care Act ,
Coal Mines ,
DACA ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Dodd-Frank ,
EEO-1 ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Executive Compensation ,
Individual Mandate ,
OMB ,
Presidential Nominations ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Repeal ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Secretary of Labor ,
Tax Reform ,
Trump Administration ,
Unions
Trump Signs New Executive Order Threatening ACA. Following last month’s senatorial defeat on full repeal-and-replace—after which Congress vowed to move on to tax reform and other lower hanging fruit—the Trump administration...more
He Said, They Said. Over a Wednesday night dinner consisting of the unusual combination of Chinese food and chocolate pie, President Trump and Democratic congressional leaders Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)...more
9/18/2017
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Affordable Care Act ,
Congressional Committees ,
DACA ,
E-Verify ,
EEO-1 ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Immigration Reform ,
Joint Employers ,
Legislative Agendas ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Trump Administration ,
University of California
On August 2, 2017, the Senate confirmed Marvin Kaplan as a member of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Kaplan, whose confirmation was on a strict party-line vote of 50 to 48, will join fellow Republican and Chair,...more
On June 27, 2017, President Trump nominated labor attorney William J. Emanuel to fill one of two vacancies to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). This follows closely on last week’s nomination of Marvin E. Kaplan to...more
On May 23, 2017, President Trump released his Fiscal Year 2018 (FY2018) budget proposal—a more detailed and developed version (it’s nearly 1300 pages long) of the so-called “skinny” budget that was released in March of 2017....more