WASHINGTON — With Thomas Perez now confirmed as head of the Labor Department, the agency is expected to unleash a flurry of new regulations that have been bottled up for months — a prospect that has business leaders worried and labor advocates cheering.
Some long-awaited rules would help boost employment for veterans and the disabled, increase wages for home health care workers and set new limits for workplace exposure to dangerous silica dust.
Other, more controversial rules and actions could help labor unions in organizing campaigns and allow union officials to take part in safety inspections at nonunion companies.
“The general view of the business community is that there will be an activist, enforcement agenda,” said Michael Lotito, a San Francisco lawyer who represents employers in labor disputes. “That means there are going to be more lawsuits, and the regulatory agenda is going to be alive and well.”
In many cases, the pending rules have languished for two years or more, stalled by election-year politics and the delay in installing Perez as labor secretary. Republicans who opposed Perez say his record as head of the Justice Department’s civil rights division was one of ideological activism. But labor and workplace advocates call Perez a champion for workers’ rights.
The Labor Department already has dramatically increased enforcement of safety, wage and hour laws during Obama’s administration.
But Perez is expected to take things further based on his track record at the Justice Department. He played a leading role in challenging voter ID laws in Texas and South Carolina and was particularly aggressive in bringing housing discrimination cases.
