Last week, I wrote about a report in Bloomberg BNA that the Trump Administration was thinking about letting the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission "absorb" the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs. The idea had some appeal for me because both agencies enforce variants on federal prohibitions against discrimination. But I admitted that I hadn't thought it ...

NLRB candidates being vetted. Bloomberg BNA reported last night that President Trump has settled on two candidates to fill the two vacant seats on the National Labor Relations Board. One is William Emanuel, a shareholder in the Los Angeles Office of the management-side law firm Littler Mendelsohn. Here is a link to his firm bio. The other is Marvin Kaplan, counsel to a Commissioner ...

According to Politico's "Morning Shift," President Trump on Friday night promoted Philip Miscimarra from Acting Chairman to plain old Chairman of the National Labor Relations Board. Congratulations, Chairman!

As of this morning, the NLRB website is still listing him as Acting Chairman.

There are still two vacant seats on the five-member Board, which the ...

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 ...

You may have heard by now that not one, but two, federal courts have struck down President Trump's second attempt at a travel ban Executive Order. As always, Will Krasnow and Jeanette Phelan from our Immigration Practice Group have the story, including links to the two court decisions. Last we heard, President Trump is done with rewrites -- he plans to take the battle to the Supreme ...

Bob Ortbals co-wrote this post.

Employers get ready. Paid family leave is coming. The latest move comes from Missouri Governor Eric Greitens (R), who granted paid parental leave to all state executive branch employees by executive order on March 13, 2017. Effective immediately, executive branch employees are entitled to paid leave for the birth or adoption ...

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 office?

A ...