91视频

On March 14, 2023, President Biden formally submitted to the Senate his nomination of Julie Su to be the next Labor Department secretary. While this news may have flown under the radar for many employers in Oregon given the recent snow issues and banking news, it is聽a significant development that requires planning. Failure to plan could have drastic consequences.

As an analogy, I will rely on my own experience during the recent snowstorm. Since I had run to work, I had to get an Uber ride home. My wife insisted that I should get one immediately because it was snowing in Northeast Portland. Shockingly, I listened and got a ride partially home. Unfortunately, the Uber driver was unable to continue about a mile from my house. I got out and sent a photo of myself trekking home to a Fantasy Premier League group chat with members who live in Lake Oswego. They mocked me and asked for a selfie with me holding a newspaper (sadly I did not have my 91视频 with me) because there was no snow where they were working. I insisted that the photo was taken moments ago. Their failure to listen and plan resulted in a multi-hour commute home.

The head of the Labor Department wields tremendous influence over the nation’s workplace policy. To stave off companies’ frustrations related to national employment law changes, here is a proper heads-up on four areas of law that may be impacted by Julie Su.

Wage and hour

Employers have been anticipating a new federal overtime rule from the Labor Department for some time 鈥� and we can expect Secretary Su to continue working to make this happen. Under Su’s leadership, the DOL will likely try to increase the salary threshold from the current rate of $684 a week to somewhere around $900-$1,000 a week.

Workplace safety

We can expect two major developments under Secretary Su in the coming months: OSHA will release a COVID-specific rule to address the virus in health care settings, and the agency will issue a broader infectious disease regulation that will apply to all workplaces. Health care employers will be required to tackle a great deal of compliance work in terms of preventive care and responses to outbreaks, while all employers will need to stay up to speed on workplace safety for the foreseeable future.

Moreover, expect OSHA to ramp up workplace inspections under Su’s leadership, particularly since the agency recently cast a wider net to include even more workplaces in its enhanced safety inspection program known as the 鈥淪evere Violator Enforcement Program鈥� (SVEP). Compliance is more important than ever given OSHA’s increased penalties and its plan to allow union leaders to accompany safety inspectors when they walk through a workplace 鈥� even if it’s a nonunionized environment.

Joint employment

Former Secretary Marty Walsh saw to it that the Trump-era joint employer rule that made it harder for employees to prove joint employment for the purposes of wage litigation was scrapped very early in his tenure, and a federal court put the final nail in that coffin in 2021. We have expected the agency to follow up and develop a replacement rule that brings the standard squarely back into Obama-era territory. To date, that hasn’t happened, but we expect things to get a kick start under Su’s tenure.

We expect to see the new rule, which should be issued sometime in 2023, place organizations engaged in multi-participant arrangements 鈥� such as outside-party management, joint ventures, staffing services, employee leasing, temporary help, subcontracting, certain kinds of 鈥渏ob sharing,鈥� and dedicated vendors or suppliers 鈥� directly in the agency’s crosshairs. The DOL will aim to put as many of them as possible on the hook for any alleged wage and hour violations filed under federal law.

Pay equity and affirmative action

President Biden called Secretary Su a 鈥渃hampion of workers,鈥� and we expect her to focus on pay equity and transparency for women, low-wage earners, and underrepresented groups. Notably, Su co-founded California’s Pay Equity Task Force while Jerry Brown was governor. The task force was formed to focus on compliance after the state’s Fair Pay Act took effect.

Although we anticipate pay equity activity to take place primarily at the state level, we can expect Secretary Su to implement strategies to try to close the pay gap at the national level. Employers can expect more investigations into pay disparities, as well as enforcement actions against federal contractors. Additionally, we can expect federal contractors to continue seeing a focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion from the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs.

Secretary Su may also advocate for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to reinstitute the federal EEO-1 鈥淐omponent 2鈥� reports that briefly required employers to collect and turn over pay data and hours worked information to the government. While there are lots of rumors about a revived EEO-1 Component 2 requirement, nothing concrete has developed 鈥� yet.

Conclusion

Reach out to your attorney if you have any questions related to the impacts Julie Su may have on how your company does business. It is better to believe the warnings and follow the recommendations than be stuck in a multi-hour commute like my buddy who refused to believe a photo of snow was real without the photo including that day’s 91视频.

Stephen Scott is a partner in the Portland office of Fisher Phillips, a national firm dedicated to representing employers’ interests in all aspects of workplace law. Contact him at 503-205-8094 or [email protected].

The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed in the preceding commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Daily Journal of Commerce or its editors. Neither the author nor the 91视频 guarantees the accuracy or completeness of any information published herein.