Trump Nominees for Labor Board Could Nix Obama-era Rules

Roll Call discusses President Trump’s NLRB nominations with Trey Kovacs.

President Donald Trump’s nomination of two attorneys to serve on the National Labor Relations Board would give the panel a Republican majority that could roll back a slew of labor regulations.

William Emanuel of Littler Mendelson, a law firm that represents employers, and Marvin Kaplan, counsel at the independent federal Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, have been officially nominated to fill two openings on the five-seat board.

“This represents a huge opportunity for reform,” said Trey Kovacs, a labor policy expert at the conservative-leaning Competitive Enterprise Institute, a public policy group. “In recent years, the NLRB has pushed out job-killing decisions and regulations favoring the interests of organized labor over individual workers.”

Both candidates will need to be confirmed by the Senate and vetted by senators of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. The NLRB is designed as a five-member board, with three members belonging to the party that controls the White House, and two from the opposite party. Of the three current members, labor and employment lawyer Philip A. Miscimarra, is the only Republican and was named chairman of the board by Trump in April. His term will end December 16.

The two nominations drew immediate support from Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., chairwoman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, and Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., chairman of the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions.

“These are well-qualified nominees with deep understanding of the policies impacting America’s workers,” they said in a joint statement. “We are confident they have what it takes to return the board to its role as the neutral arbiter Congress intended.”

If Kaplan and Emanuel, who was officially nominated Tuesday night, are confirmed and a Republican majority is established, the NLRB is expected to undo a number of its rulings made during the Obama administration.

Read the full article at Roll Call.