The first Obama administration was a windfall for employment lawyers: Federal agencies like the National Labor Relations Board and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission roared back to life. And then there was a little law involving health care. At The National Law Journal‘s Regulatory Summit in December, a panel led by lawyers from Littler Mendelson, which specializes in labor and employment law, made their predictions for the major employment issues ahead.
IMMIGRATION. Business groups and politicians from across the spectrum are calling for immigration reform. And as Ilyse Schuman, a Littler Mendelson partner, put it at the Regulatory Summit, “Immigration reform may be the only comprehensive form of workplace legislation that may move through this Congress.” But any partisan détente will depend on the details. According to a New York Times report, the president has said that he favors a comprehensive reform measure that would include a new nationwide verification of legal status for all newly hired workers; additional visas for highly skilled workers and to relieve immigration backlogs; and a new guest-worker program to help fill low-wage jobs. Obviously, employers will closely watch those three issues. Obama is expected to provide more detail in his State of the Union address early next month. Stay tuned.
