Secretary Of Labor Resigns (Beltway Buzz, July 12, 2019)

The Beltway Buzz is a weekly update summarizing labor and employment news from inside the Beltway and clarifying how what's happening in Washington, D.C. could impact your business.

Secretary of Labor Resigns. On July 12, 2019, Alexander Acosta resigned as Secretary of Labor amid renewed scrutiny of his handling of criminal charges against Jeffrey Epstein while serving as the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida from 2005 to 2009. His resignation will be effective on July 19, 2019. Deputy Labor Secretary Patrick Pizzella will become acting secretary of labor. This is obviously a significant development, and the Buzz will be watching how this development will impact the U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL) policy agenda.

EEOC Nominations. Last week, President Trump nominated current DOL Wage and Hour Division (WHD) Deputy Administrator Keith Sonderling to serve on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). If confirmed, Sonderling would join Chair Janet Dhillon and Commissioner Victoria Lipnic to round out the three-member Republican complement on the Commission. Additionally, President Trump also renominated current commissioner Charlotte Burrows, whose term technically expired on July 1, 2019, to a second term. Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Commissioner Burrows will continue to serve on the Commission—as long as her nomination is pending—until Congress adjourns. There is no word yet on when the nomination process will kick into gear in the U.S. Senate.

Immigration Bill Passes House. On July 10, 2019, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2019 by an overwhelming vote of 365-65. The bill would eliminate the per-country caps for employment-based immigrants. The bill now heads to the Senate, where it enjoys significant bipartisan support. However, in recent weeks there has been a debate about amending the Senate's version of the bill to include significant changes to the H-1B program. This could obviously complicate matters in the Senate.

Congress Heats Up. July 11, 2019, was particularly hot and muggy in D.C., so the political optics were great for Democrats on the U.S. House of Representatives Workforce Protections Subcommittee, who held a hearing entitled "From the Fields to the Factories: Preventing Workplace Injury and Death from Excessive Heat." The hearing coincided with the introduction of the Asunción Valdivia Heat Illness and Fatality Prevention...