It was the night before…a federal government shutdown. Earlier this week, it looked like Congress had wrapped up its government funding bill in a neat little package. But lawmakers grew cold and a little nervous about the bill's post-holiday credit card bill and shelved the bill. Than that Buzz For publication, Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives are drawing up a list and checking it twice to see if they have the votes to keep the government open past midnight ET tonight. If the government shuts down, you can learn what happens to labor and employment agencies here and immigration-focused agencies in this article by James N. Garilas.
Biden-era NLRB is coming to an end. With the appointment of David Prouty and Gwynne Wilcox in 2021, the Biden-era National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) began in earnest to shift the political landscape of labor governance in favor of organized labor. But this era of pro-Big Labor on the board is likely to soon come to an end. December 16, 2024 was the last day of NLRB Chair Lauren McFerran's term. Because the U.S. Senate voted 50-49 to reject McFerran's reconfirmation on December 11, 2024, two Democrats remain on the board – Gwynne Wilcox and David Prouty – and one Republican – Marvin Kaplan. It also offers President-elect Donald Trump a chance to quickly gain a Republican majority on the board in 2025. But the change won't happen immediately – it will take time for nominees to be confirmed and procedures to be reversed.
Board limits employers' control over their own operations. With Chairman McFerran's departure from the Board, the regulated community is experiencing the predicted “deluge” of decisions that will occur once members' terms expire. Most recently, the board issued a decision that will make it more difficult for unionized employers to make changes to their operations. In this case, the board ruled that collective bargaining agreements must contain a “clear and unambiguous” waiver of the union’s right to negotiate changes in the workplace. Thomas M. Stanek and Zachary V. Zagger have the details.
H-1B amendments completed. On December 18, 2024, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) published a rule entitled “Modernizing H-1B Requirements, Providing Flexibility in the F-1 Program, and Program Improvements Affecting Other Nonimmigrant Workers.” . Brian D. Bumgardner and Marissa E. Cwik have details on changes to the definition of “specialty occupation,” codification of prior authorization deference, expansion of the H-1B cap, site visits, and more.
By finalizing the remaining aspects of the proposed rule (the first part, focused primarily on H-1B registration, selection and integrity, went into effect earlier this year), the Biden administration is taking a step toward strengthening its highly skilled workforce Immigration policy preferences. Of course, the rule is clearly subject to review under the Congressional Review Act (CRA). The new Congress could vote to repeal the regulation and would only need a majority in the Senate to do so (although Republican majorities in both houses of Congress are razor thin). Of course, once the CRA is used to repeal a regulation, agencies are prohibited from issuing a new regulation that is “substantially the same in form” as the rejected regulation. In this case, if Republicans use the CRA to repeal this rule, it could prohibit the new Trump administration from adjusting prevailing wages for H-1Bs, as they tried to do in the first administration.
OSHA finalizes PPE rule. On December 12, 2024, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) published a final rule entitled “Personal Protective Equipment in Construction.” Existing requirements simply state that personal protective equipment (PPE) must be “of safe design and construction for the work to be performed.” The new regulations state that employers must ensure that PPE is “selected to properly fit each affected employee”. OSHA focused on smaller workers, particularly women, when setting regulations. The regulation is scheduled to come into force on January 13, 2025. John D. Surma and Savannah M. Selvaggio have the details.
For the birds. If you think the national bird of the United States is the bald eagle, think again. Although the eagle is a patriotic symbol that we typically see on currency, government buildings, and military uniforms, the bald eagle is not officially recognized as our national bird. We have a national anthem (of course), a national flower (rose), a national march (“The Stars and Stripes Forever”) and a national tree (the oak), but no national bird. But this week, the House of Representatives passed a bill declaring the bald eagle the official bird of the United States. The Senate passed the bill earlier this year, so it now ends up on President Biden's desk. Hopefully we don't have to wait until Owl Day for him to sign it.
This is our last one Beltway buzz from 2024. We return on January 10, 2025.