Broad Employer Base Seeks Withdrawal of Harmful Proposed Rule

WASHINGTON, D.C. // SEPTEMBER 21, 2011 // Today, the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace and hundreds of employer organizations filed comments telling the Department of Labor to withdraw its seriously flawed proposed rule that would diminish or deny employer access to legal counsel and employees’ ability to hear important information from employers.

The rule in question would eviscerate decades-old exemptions to disclosure requirements for advice and legal counsel. This will force employers and their attorneys to disclose sensitive financial details, even if an employer’s attorney or hired consultants do not directly interact with employees. The rule is so over-broad that simply attending many seminars would trigger the onerous reporting requirement.

The Coalition’s comments, co-signed by 265 employer organizations, argues:

The Labor Department’s proposed rules are anti-employer, especially anti-small business, and, perhaps most significantly, anti-employee. Indeed, the proposal, when taken in concert with the NLRB’s proposed “ambush” election procedures, amounts to a radical attempt by the Obama Administration to shift the balance of private sector labor relations, in defiance of the neutral policies established by Congress over many decades.

Additionally, CDW assisted more than two thousand employers and grassroots activists in urging the DOL to reconsider its rule.

For a copy of CDW’s comments, click here.