More Of The Great Loosening. Joe Biden surprised — and irked — many of his constituents when he announced during a 60 Minutes interview that the pandemic is essentially over. The World Health Organization would disagree on...more
If Current Polling Holds, Expect Additional Executive Action In 2023 And 2024. This newsletter has often had occasion to discuss the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) in the context of addressing rules...more
Sens. Schumer and Manchin Finally Agree On Contours Of Next Reconciliation Package. We have been following, and reporting on, the saga surrounding the next democrat only package, originally designated the Build Back Better...more
Annnnd We're Back: Legislative Update. We appreciate this audience bearing with us as this newsletter has been on a short hiatus in light of some scheduling issues. During that brief respite numerous different pieces of...more
7/19/2022
/ Arbitration ,
Competition ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
DFEH ,
EEO-1 ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Heat Exposure ,
Independent Contractors ,
Innovation ,
NLRB ,
OSHA ,
Paid Leave ,
Pay Equity Laws ,
Pre-Dispute Arbitration ,
Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) ,
SCOTUS ,
Stop Woke Act ,
Vaccinations ,
Viking River Cruises Inc v Moriana ,
Wage and Hour ,
Ways and Means Committee ,
West Virginia v EPA ,
Whistleblowers ,
Workplace Safety
RISE and SHINE Act. It is just a discussion draft, so need to get too excited at the prospect of more bi-partisanship (maybe this author is alone in his excitement over that potential), but recently, Chair Patty Murray and...more
DOL’s 2023 Priorities, Per Labor Secretary Marty Walsh. Additional personnel topped Labor Secretary Marty Walsh’s wish list for 2023 as he laid out next year’s proposed budget at a hearing in front of the Subcommittee on...more
House Passes Bill To Extend Recent Prohibition On Arbitration Of Sexual Harassment. While the 50-50 partisan split in the Senate has caused an uneven legislative road since the onset of the Biden Administration, legislation...more
Senate Passes The “Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021”; Biden Signature Imminent. As Seyfarth noted in this legal update, the central thrust of the measure is to permit persons...more
What SCOTUS Justice Stephen Breyer’s Retirement Portends For The LE World. The biggest news to come out of Washington D.C. in recent weeks is unquestionably the formal announcement of Supreme Court Associate Justice Stephen...more
A New Year Brings New Hope, And A Little Vaccine Clarity. Below is a brief discussion of where the various vaccine mandates stand in the courts. But this space is intended to provide a broader update on all of the various...more
Build Back…Sometime? Despite Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s repeated assurances that the Build Back Better Act (BBBA) would pass the Senate before the holidays, many Democratic Senators have now conceded that BBBA...more
CMS And Federal Contractor Vaccine Mandates Blocked By Numerous Article III Judges. On Monday, a federal judge in Missouri issued a preliminary injunction declaring the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS’)...more
The Two Relevant Policy Matters Are Really Big -- But Head Into The Weekend In A Holding Pattern. Below is a brief dabble into the history of a great American tradition. More importantly, though, the magnitude of the two main...more
11/22/2021
/ Bridges ,
Broadband ,
College Athletes ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Infrastructure ,
Marijuana ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Recreational Use ,
Roads
OSHA: From The Back Page To The Headlines. If asked in January of 2020 what exactly OSHA is and what it does within the Department of Labor, we would venture that the majority of PMN readers would not have a completely...more
The much-anticipated OSHA Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (“OSHA”) COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Emergency Temporary Standard (“ETS”) posted this morning, November 4, 2021, for public inspection. The ETS...more
President Biden Calls On Congress To Eliminate Subminimum Pay For Disabled Workers. The White House has called on Congress to eliminate a program under Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act that allows employers to...more
One Small Step For Infrastructure: Senate Passes Bipartisan Package, But The Next Leaps Will Be Laborious. Finally, after months of inter- and intra-party wrangling, the Senate voted 69-30 — including a notable aye vote from...more
The Senate, Finally, Takes A Baby Vote On The Bipartisan Infrastructure Proposal. On Wednesday, the Senate voted 67-32 to advance the proposal, with 17 Republicans joining all Democrats to begin legislative action. The vote...more
President Biden Is Back From Overseas, And His Budget is Out. The White House has released the President’s 2022 budget proposal, which incorporates some of the legislative proposals made by President Biden over the past few...more
A Bipartisan Deal On Infrastructure Remains Out Of Grasp. Last week, the GOP offered a counter proposal to Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan, topping out at – so close – almost $1 Trillion. However, the GOP offer only included...more
The Great Loosening: Easing of Coronavirus Restrictions Across The Union. Since Joe Biden’s election, this space has discussed the great expansion of the Paycheck Protection Program, as well as the great undoing of a number...more
Education and Labor Subcommittee Hearing on Important Employment Legislation. As we noted here, on Thursday, March 18th the Civil Rights and Human Services Subcommittee on Workforce Protections held a hearing entitled...more
What Timing: Biden Signed $1.9 Trillion Coronavirus Relief Package. We here at the PMN have been following intently every development when it comes to the federal government’s legislative response to the virus. Indeed, since...more
3/17/2021
/ Biden Administration ,
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Department of Labor (DOL) ,
Employment Policies ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Eviction ,
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ,
Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) ,
Moratorium ,
OSHA ,
Relief Measures ,
Tax Credits ,
Vaccinations
The Parliamentarian Has Spoken: Minimum Wage Can’t Be Raised Through Reconciliation. At this point, readers of this newsletter are assuredly aware of the substantive contours and the procedural hurdles Joe Biden’s COVID-19...more
The Fight For $1.9: Administration Remains Committed To Passing COVID-19 Legislation, Even Without Republican Backing. Unlike previous updates on the “will they won’t they” back-and-forth of COVID-19 / Stimulus Legislation...more