Today, Education and Labor Committee Republican Leader Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and Subcommittee on Workforce Protections Republican Leader Fred Keller (R-PA) sent a letter to Department of Labor (DOL) Secretary Marty Walsh questioning the Wage and Hour Division’s (WHD) move to abandon important compliance assistance measures. These activities help workers and businesses understand confusing regulatory requirements so they can comply with the law and avoid adversarial enforcement actions from WHD. Examples of changes we have already seen during the Biden administration include the withdrawal of five opinion letters since January 2021 and the elimination of the Payroll Audit Independent Determination (PAID) program.
In the letter, the Members write: “As businesses nationwide continue to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, they are facing the prospect of new regulatory burdens and uncertainties from WHD due to new legal interpretations and mandates. We are concerned that instead of working in a collaborative manner and providing businesses with needed compliance assistance, WHD is moving in the opposite direction."
The Members continue: “WHD’s decisions to pull back on compliance assistance and to withdraw existing regulations are detrimental to job creators and workers, who will now be faced with uncertain and significant regulatory mandates from WHD… DOL should ensure workers and businesses have a say as WHD considers regulatory changes."
Specifically, the Members call out the Department and the Biden administration for:
* Ending the successful PAID program;
* Withdrawing opinion letters, which provide much-needed legal guidance to small businesses in complying with the laws and regulations WHD administers;
* Rescinding the Trump administration’s final rules on independent contractors and joint employment; and,
* Nominating David Weil, an activist who “created a hostile and adversarial environment for businesses" during his tenure as head of WHD under President Obama, to lead WHD.
Read the full letter to Secretary Walsh here.
