Overview
New employment laws and policies at the federal, state, and local levels of government often have a dramatic effect on an employer’s business and broader interests.
Whether it’s new wage and hour guidance, workplace safety or accommodations policies, broadly applicable new rules, or rules specific to government contractors and subcontractors, companies are aware of the need to keep updated and well informed about regulatory and legislative developments in the labor and employment area. Employers across many industries rely on Epstein Becker Green to help them navigate these changes, promote their interests, and remain legally compliant.
Our Relationships, Your Success
Our Employment, Labor & Workforce Management practice has been guiding businesses like yours through presidential transitions for over 50 years. Each presidential administration implements changes to regulatory, legislative, and enforcement priorities, which affect the business and compliance strategies of our clients. Epstein Becker Green deploys critical problem-solving approaches for its clients in anticipation of, and in response to, these changes.
To accomplish this, we maintain strong relationships with key personnel at the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), including Wage and Hour, OFCCP and OSHA, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and other agencies that interpret and enforce labor and employment laws. Clients benefit from our ability to offer practical and strategic advice for interacting with these agencies and to work with agency decision-makers.
We’ve Been on Both Sides
Our workforce government relations team includes former senior-level government officials from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the DOL. For example, our team includes a past:
- Acting Attorney General of the United States,
- Head of the Civil Division of the DOJ,
- Administrator of the DOL’s Wage and Hour Division, and
- Head of the DOL’s Civil Rights Division.
Members of our team also include a former trial attorney for the DOL’s Office of the Solicitor; past trial attorneys in the Civil, Criminal, and Tax Divisions of the DOJ; former field attorneys with the NLRB; past Assistant U.S. Attorneys; and lawyers who participated in congressionally-directed negotiations on the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 503 disability regulations.
Our agency experience and current relationships also prove beneficial to clients when we represent them in government investigations, audits, and enforcement actions.
The Legislative Pipeline
Employers turn to us to keep them informed of workplace legislation that could affect their business interests. Our attorneys keep pace with bills moving through Congress, and several of us have testified before congressional committees regarding new federal wage legislation under consideration and other key subjects. Our two-pronged approach simultaneously keeps employers current on legislative activity and gives voice to their interests and perspectives during the legislative process so that policymakers are better informed while crafting new laws and regulations. Additionally, staying on top of developments in the law enables us to advise employers in advance of relevant legislation at the state and local levels around the country that could affect their workforces as well.
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Focus Areas
Experience
- Secured new DOL guidance on behalf of the Restaurant Law Center and the Texas Restaurant Association regarding the 80/20 rule for tipped employees. We filed litigation to influence the DOL to reject its prior guidance limiting the amount of time tipped employees can spend on non-tip-generating activities.
- Worked with a trade association to craft a legislative proposal to assist an industry hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Met with DOL personnel to advocate for changes to various regulatory and sub-regulatory positions.
- Provided congressional testimony in support of various business interests.
- Worked with major employer policy groups and the White House to revise the Americans with Disabilities Act and shape reasonable new Affirmative Action obligations for individuals with disabilities and veterans.
- Successfully suggested modifications to the EEOC’s EEO-1 pay data collection process to make compliance easier for employers.
Contacts
Member of the Firm
Events
Insights
Insights
- Media CoveragePaul DeCamp Quoted in “5th Circuit Decision Hints at Salary Debates to Come”3 minute read
- Media CoveragePaul DeCamp Quoted in “Proposed Change in Overtime Threshold Likely to Face Challenges”3 minute read
- Media Coverage
Paul DeCamp Quoted in “No Salary 'Window Dressing' After Helix”
3 minute read - Media CoveragePaul DeCamp Quoted in “5 Wage Issues Biden Could Take On in 2024”4 minute read
- Media CoveragePaul DeCamp Quoted in “5 Questions as 5th Circ. Revives Attack on Min. Wage Rule”4 minute read
- Media CoveragePaul DeCamp Quoted in “FLSA Administrative Exemption Set for an Overhaul”4 minute read
- Media CoveragePaul DeCamp Quoted in “Biden Wage Rules Meet a Suspicious Judiciary”4 minute read
- Media CoveragePaul DeCamp Quoted in “How Salary Regs' History May Color High Court OT Ruling”4 minute read
- Media CoveragePaul DeCamp Quoted in “SCOTUS Ponders: Should a Worker Making $200K Annually Be Overtime-Exempt?”4 minute read
- Media CoveragePaul DeCamp Quoted in “Judge Rekindles Debate on Reviewing FLSA Settlements”4 minute read
- Media CoveragePaul DeCamp Quoted in “DOL Says High Court EPA Ruling Doesn't Kill Tip Credit Rule”2 minute read
- Media Coverage
Paul DeCamp Featured in NPR Interview, “How the Supreme Court's EPA Ruling Will Shape Government Power”
2 minute read - Media CoveragePaul DeCamp Quoted in “Biden Labor Policy Goals Slowed by Some Key Agency Vacancies”2 minute read
- Media CoveragePaul DeCamp Quoted in “Biden's 2021 Wage and Hour Report Card”4 minute read
- Media CoveragePaul DeCamp Quoted in “Pandemic Takes a Toll on DOL Wage Recoveries”3 minute read
- Media CoveragePaul DeCamp Quoted in “‘Befuddling’ FLSA Exemptions Continue to Plague Employers”4 minute read
- Media CoveragePaul DeCamp Quoted in "Workplace Arbitration Gets Renewed Scrutiny in Biden Era"2 minute read
- Media CoveragePaul DeCamp Quoted in "Religious Employers Get Boost in Wage Cases from Supreme Court"4 minute read
- Media CoveragePaul DeCamp Quoted in "DOL Opinion Letters Getting Chilly Reception in Courts"3 minute read
- Media CoveragePaul DeCamp Quoted in "Scalia Nomination Signals Continued Employer-Friendly Bent at Labor"3 minute read
- Media CoveragePaul DeCamp Quoted in "Trump's Labor Chief Pick Scalia No Stranger to the Job"3 minute read
- Media CoveragePaul DeCamp Quoted in "Workplace Oversight May Be Dialed Back Under Supreme Court Case"4 minute read
- Media CoveragePaul DeCamp Quoted in "Coming Supreme Court Decision May Spur Clearer Regulations"3 minute read