Nominee to oversee DoL’s Wage and Hour Division faces opposition

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said on Monday that he opposed David Weil as President Obama’s nominee to oversee the Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division.

“I cannot support a nominee who has advocated expanding current law beyond what Congress intended,” Alexander, the ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said. “Nor could I support a nominee who is a proponent of targeting industries and employers who use certain business models rather than being responsive to complaints of breaches of the law. Or one that has the underlying goal of increasing unionization, without regard to the desires of employees themselves.”

Alexander said the appropriate nominee could be trusted to enforce the law by both employees and employers.

Weil recently published a book, “The Fissured Workplace: Why Work Became So Bad for So Many and What Can Be Done to Improve It.”

“In this book, he suggests the Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division – the division he is nominated to lead – could look for ways to expand its current interpretations of labor law and should target employers who use certain business models,” Alexander said.

Weil asserts in his book that companies who use subcontracting and supply chain business models defer liability for compliance with workplace statutes and are able to avoid unionization, Alexander said.

“Dr. Weil’s writings suggest he may have a bull’s eye on industries that use subcontracting and franchising,” Alexander said.