2017 employment law implications with a transition to
a Republican controlled White House and Congress
What do the election results mean for labor and employment policy going forward? HR Professionals are very aware of the direct effect that political party initiatives can have on employment law, and how this can directly affect your business’ operational costs as well as your internal policies and practises. So, what are these possible future employment law changes now that Republicans control the White House and Congress?
Keep an eye on the following laws and agencies:
The Affordable Care Act:
This law is likely to undergo either an entire overhaul or more likely revisions and replacements via amendments to the current law.
FLSA Part 541 overtime regulation:
A roll back or recall of this law regarding the salary threshold for classifying exempt employees is not out of the question.
Immigration Policy:
There may be an opportunity for Congress to promote regulations and pass legislation for immigration policy on a path to earned legalization of undocumented workers.
The Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces (government contractor “blacklisting”):
This was put into place during the Obama administration as an executive order so a revision of implementation regulations could be revisited.
The Labor-management Reporting and Disclosure Act:
A revised “persuader activity” regulations may be on the horizon.
NLRB's historic reversals of long-established labor law precedent:
Recent NLRB rulings in areas such as joint-employment, independent contractors, waivers of class and collective actions in arbitration agreements, "ambush" union elections and micro bargaining units will, over time, have the possibility to be reversed.
Why so many changes?
1. Republicans will control the White House and both the House and Senate.
2. President-elect Trump will select the candidate for the current vacancy on the Supreme Court of the United States, as well as seats on the 12 federal circuit courts. Currently only four remain under the control of judges appointed by Republican presidents.
3. President-elect Trump will fill the two vacancies on the National Labor Relations Board with two Republicans, switching majority control of the agency on his first days in office.
4. It means the appointment of other key policy positions throughout the federal labor agencies (Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health, Wage and Hour Division).
What does this means to employers now?
Right now remain status quo on current laws. HR Professionals should continue to keep an ear to the ground on possible changes to labor laws. In some cases the organization might want to start pre-planning for changes that could have the most dramatic affect on business operations. Preparing adjustments to policies and practises ahead of time allows HR to focus on implementation and change management including communication and employee training.
OnePoint Compliance Resources and Tools
OnePoint offers several tools and resources that help monitor changes to labor laws and streamline compliance management.
OnePointHCM HR Support Center delivers e-Alerts, HR Q&A, hundreds of articles, guides, forms and Checklists, plus on-demand training covering almost any HR topic.
OnePoint HCM’s e-Update Law Poster service keeps law posters up-to-date for federal and state laws by automatically emailing any federal and state updates to subscribers so that your legal obligation to post laws for employees to frequently view is complete.
OnePoint Software-as-a-Service platform provides additional certainty and peace of mind for HR because the system updates forms, certain functionalities and reporting formats so Administrators can report on and submit information compliant with the latest requirements and format versions.
