Two big developments of interest to employers:

The Senate Heath, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee approved the nomination of Alex Acosta, President Trump's nominee for Secretary of Labor, in a 12-11 straight party-line vote. This means that Mr. Acosta's nomination will be voted on by the full Senate. According to The Washington Post, no date has yet been set for the Senate vote.

It was a bleak and frigid night on I-88 somewhere in northern Illinois. The icy wind whipped across the flatlands, grazing the endless rows of white, brittle remains of last year's corn crop. The only place to be that night was in your house, wrapped in your Snuggie, with a warm glass of brandy, watching videos of past vacations at Daytona Beach.

Alphonse Maddin knew he had to ...

Franchisors received some encouraging news this week from President Trump's Acting Solicitor General, Nicholas Geale. Mr. Geale says that he prefers not to bring enforcement actions based on a theory that franchisors and franchisees are "joint employers." He also said that he hopes the U.S. Department of Labor will focus on helping employers to comply with the law and less on ...

The U.S. Senate has passed, 49-48, a resolution of disapproval of the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces rule. The resolution of disapproval passed the House in February, and we've reported on it here and here.

If the President signs the resolution, as is expected, then Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces will be dead.

The controversial rule, issued by the Obama Administration in August 2016 ...

President Trump has issued his new and improved "travel ban" Executive Order, which reduces the list of "banned" countries from the original seven to six (Iraq is now off the list), provides more of a rationale for banning foreign nationals from the six countries, makes exceptions for permanent legal residents and others, and otherwise addresses some of the issues that caused so many ...

Two Trumpian developments of interest to employers will occur on March 15, next Wednesday:

Alex Acosta's confirmation hearing is scheduled to take place that day. Mr. Acosta is President Trump's nominee for Secretary of Labor, and is expected to have relatively smooth sailing. On the other hand, is there anything that has been "smooth" about the President's first months in ...

Work card renewal for foreign workers gets easier. First, I neglected last week to include this Immigration Dispatch by Elizabeth Joiner on changes to the process for renewing Employment Authorization Cards (aka "work cards") that should make things easier for foreign workers. Please do read, and, Elizabeth, I apologize for the delay!

The January-February edition of the ...

President Trump's address to Congress last night didn't have much on labor and employment issues, apart from the creation of jobs (which is no small thing and would be awesome if it pans out).

But he did mention "paid family leave," ever so briefly.

Credit (or blame) for the concept of paid family leave goes to the President's daughter Ivanka, herself a businesswoman and ...

The employment law week in Trumpland started out a little slow, but now we're back in business.

Acosta looking good for confirmation as Secretary of Labor. In contrast to nominee Andrew Puzder, the outlook appears good for his successor nominee Alexander Acosta. Mr. Acosta seems to have bipartisan support in the Senate, and has even been endorsed by the International Union of ...

Yikes. I hope I haven't missed anybody. Wild week!

We hope that the immigrant strikes are about over by now, but they may continue into today, and a women's strike is reportedly set for March 8. Do employers have any recourse when their employees go out on strike? It depends. If the strike is "protected concerted activity" (and it may be), then employers will need to tread carefully and ...