News & Commentary

September 19, 2017

Today, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions will hold a hearing on the Trump administration’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) nominations.  Janet Dhillon and Daniel Gade are the nominees.  Dhillon, who is currently the general counsel of Burlington Stores, began her career at a large corporate law firm before transitioning in-house.  She was tapped to become the next chairwoman.  Gade, an Iraq War veteran and West Point professor, would be the only non-lawyer on the Commission if confirmed.  Gade, who was wounded during service resulting in the loss of his right leg, was once profiled in the New York Times for his advocacy of reining in disability pay for veterans (“People who stay home because they are getting paid enough to get by on disability are worse off”).  The addition of Dhillon and Gade would produce a 3-2 Republican majority on the Commission.

In other appointment news, the Trump administration announced last week that it will nominate Peter Robb to be the next general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).  Robb is a management-side labor attorney based in Vermont.  He previously worked as an NLRB field attorney before transitioning into the private sector.  Robb has reportedly been critical of certain Obama-era policies, including the rule limiting the period of time between employees filing a petition to organize and the corresponding election.

The New York Times discusses the State Department’s tightened rules for visas into the U.S.  As Gardiner Harris reports, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson informed various U.S. embassies that “visitors who require a visa before entering the United States must then follow through on their stated plans for at least three months.  If in that period they do something they failed to mention in an interview with a consular official … it will be presumed that they have deliberately lied.”  Under previous rules, a change in plans was viewed as a misrepresentation only for the first month after arrival to the U.S.

Ontario-based General Motors workers began striking on Sunday.  Union leaders report an impasse in discussions to keep jobs from moving to Mexico.  The union also reports that negotiations began to fail upon its demand that the plant be the primary assembly site for the Chevrolet Equinox, a car that has been very successful for G.M.

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