Diana Furchtgott-Roth on the “Persuader Rule”

Writing at Capital Research Center’s Labor Watch:

A shocking change in American labor relations is brewing at the U.S. Department of Labor, which is expected sometime soon to alter a major regulation. The change involves a new interpretation of the “advice exemption” of the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act. Specifically, businesses would have to disclose the names of, and fees paid to, attorneys and consultants who advise them on union-organizing activities. In turn, attorneys and consultants providing such advice would be required to disclose their client lists and the fees they receive.

If that sounds like a road map for retaliation and strong-arming, with dangers for traditional attorney-client confidentiality, well, you’re getting the idea. Furchtgott-Roth says the department has evaded regulatory review by low-balling the proposal’s billions of dollars in costs. “The change has no basis in existing law or precedent.”

2 Comments

  • Hey, they can hire all the “low-level” IRS employees that get fired from the Tea Party debacle and they won’t even have to retrain them.

    And they will probably count as new job creations.

    Is this a great government or what?

  • What fired “low-level IRS employees”? They aren’t getting fired. A sacrificial lamb will be found among political appointees. There’s already available in countless numbers and just follow orders anyway.

    The only problem with them is that they’re expensive and expect unearned deference.