The President has a right to nominate cabinet secretaries who share his political views. He does not have a right to appoint unqualified cabinet secretaries. The Senate should critically examine Thomas Perez’s nomination for Secretary of Labor. He has a record of selective law enforcement, questionable judgment, and bad management. …
Labor Secretary Hilda Solis resigned on January 22. It would be beneficial if President Obama’s next Labor Secretary would do more to protect workers from union corruption. An Office of Inspector General (OIG) audit released last year finds that the Office of Labor Management Standards (OLMS) is missing most violations …
During his 2013 inaugural address, President Obama told Americans that the United States “will respond to the threat of climate change” and will take the lead for other countries to follow suit. This commitment is a willful rejection of reality. Congress has been unwilling to enact legislation to unilaterally address …
The Administration’s green jobs initiatives appear to be the Detroit Tigers of the policy world—they are 0-for-4 in the major reports on their success. In the past year, there have been four reports on green jobs by the Department of Labor: two from the department’s inspector general’s office and two …
After three years of hyper-regulation, the Obama Administration has noticeably slowed its rulemaking in recent months. A variety of major rules have been parked in prolonged “review” by the White House, while the regulatory agenda required by statute has failed to materialize—twice. This flouting of the law is disturbing enough, …
The news that new Unemployment Insurance (UI) claims dropped sharply to 339,000 last week has raised eyebrows—and aroused suspicion the Department of Labor had massaged the numbers. In truth, there is both more and less to this story than meets the eye. The numbers are incomplete, but because of bureaucratic …
Chef Daniel Boulud got one of his first tastes of the Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC) when they inflated a gigantic cockroach outside of his upscale New York restaurant. The cockroach, used in conjunction with chants of “racist” to decry alleged differences in promotion by race, led to decreased business. Predictably, …
The bosses at the Department of Labor (DOL) have decided that federal wage and overtime provisions should not apply when grandma’s “companion” assists her with toileting. Moreover, said companion is exempt from the regulations as long as he or she sticks to playing cards, watching television, or engaging in hobbies …
Some 14 million Americans are jobless, but there just aren’t enough qualified sheepherders or goatherders to meet demand. The federal government, therefore, is allowing ranchers to “import” foreign shepherds to temporarily tend their flocks, but only if they comply with the full range of regulations specified by the official Labor …
