E&W Blog

Today, the Senate HELP Committee will vote on David Weil’s nomination as administrator of the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division. After the Senate refused to consider Mr. Weil’s nomination in the First Session of the 117th Congress, President Biden renominated him. Clearly the Biden administration is bowing to its left-wing base by pursuing openly hostile and out-of-touch policies for workers and businesses.
 
Don’t just take our word for it, here’s what stakeholders are saying:
 
“The Biden administration is pressing Congress to pass the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, a legislative monstrosity that would eliminate right-to-work states and turn union bosses into the masters of workplaces everywhere. Should they fail to sneak the bill through as part of a budget-reconciliation measure (Senate rules could make that hard), the White House will deputize the Labor Department to implement as much of it as possible through regulatory fiat. Mr. Weil would be a chief enforcer, and history shows he won’t be shy.” – Kim Strassel, Wall Street Journal
 
"Following a pandemic that harmed so many small businesses, the Senate is faced with the question of whether David Weil’s biased advocacy and unbalanced approach to the regulated community deserves a second stint at the wage and hour agency. One may say about Weil’s nomination: ‘fool us once, shame on you. But fool us twice, shame on us.’ The U.S. Senate should not be fooled by Weil a second time, and it should reject his nomination.” – International Franchise Association
 
“Dr. David Weil has spent his career attacking the gig-economy and advocating for an expanded joint-employer standard that would destroy the franchise economy, harm hundreds of thousands of small local businesses and risk millions of jobs…We strongly urge Congress to reject Dr. Weil’s nomination to protect the millions of jobs supported by the gig-economy and franchise industry.” – Coalition for a Democratic Workplace

“President Biden’s nomination of David Weil to be Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division at the Department of Labor shows that this administration is more focused on taking away an individual’s right to negotiate their own labor contracts than following current law as set by Congress. David Weil held the same position during the Obama administration, which he used to attack independent contractors and franchise employees by circumventing Congress to essentially enact parts of the PRO Act.”  – Heritage Action for America
 
“Should Weil actually become director the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, it is likely he’ll push through his reinterpretation of the FLSA and other laws and end up spending a lot time in courts defending it. A better plan to help workers than forcing them into the role of employees might be to maximize their freedom under the law.” – Competitive Enterprise Institute
 
“Based on his previous service at DOL, and his track record of bias against employers, particularly the smallest employers in America, we are concerned that Dr. Weil would implement policies at the DOL that are unbalanced and would harm workers and small businesses, in particular women and minority-owned businesses that employ millions of Americans. For these reasons, we urge the Committee to reject Dr. Weil’s nomination.” – Coalition of 14 national trade associations
 
“It’s clear that Weil is on the opposite side of sound economic theory on virtually every issue, making him uniquely unfit to again serve as WHD chief. Employers and workers alike need certainty from the federal government, but if confirmed, Weil would stack the deck against small businesses by making it much more difficult for them to survive and thrive. We strongly urge Senators to stand with taxpayers, businesses, and workers by rejecting the nomination of Weil to the Wage and Hour Division.” – National Taxpayers Union
 
“Ultimately, Weil is a left-wing academic that did more than enough damage to American workers during his first tour of duty as Wage and Hour administrator. No Senator should feel the need to give Weil a second chance to further his harmful agenda.” – Americans for Tax Reform
 
“In June, President Biden announced the nomination of David Weil to head the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Administration Office. The position is charged with protecting the pay of all workers. An American Accountability Foundation investigation into his suitability to serve in office brought to light several disturbing facts which should disqualify him from holding this office.” – American Accountability Foundation Report
 
“It’s easy for Mr. Weil, who as The Wall Street Journal noted is a ‘lifelong, left-wing academic with labor union sympathies, no private-sector experience or legal training and limited management experience’ to favor such destructive public policies. But for the tens of millions of Americans whose jobs, businesses and consumer benefits would be negatively impacted by Mr. Weil’s policies, it’s a much more critical – and personal – matter. David Weil’s nomination is far outside of the mainstream and should be rejected by the U.S. Senate.” – Center for Individual Freedom

“Dr. Weil has an extensive track record of hostility towards specific business models, industries, and companies that employ millions of Americans in every state…Dr. Weil has expanded on his ideology and belief that DOL should take an aggressive and activist approach to enforcement, particularly against lead enterprises that do business with smaller firms…Dr. Weil’s ideology is a cause for great concern for small employers, who are often the contractors and franchisees against whom Weil has telegraphed his intended enforcement.” – Job Creators Coalition Letter

“As the American workforce evolves, our policies need to evolve with it - instead of restricting it. Dr. Weil should recognize this and the fact that the overwhelming majority of app-based workers do not want to be confined to an outdated workforce model that no longer serves a majority of Americans. We urge the Committee to encourage Dr. Weil to listen to workers and not take away their independence.” – App-Based Work Alliance
 
“Dr. Weil would prefer that small business owners in our state and I serve as collateral damage and lose the equity we’ve sunk into our businesses if it meant boosting union membership. The irony is that he touts these theories and policies as equalizing solutions that help the little guy against large corporations.” – John Motta, Coalition of Franchisee Associations
 
“Weil’s self-proclaimed war on ‘fissure workplaces,’ he intends to end the practices of outsourcing, franchising, and independent contracting. The fact that these practices are responsible for millions of jobs and free up resources to innovate is unimportant to people like Weil…The last thing lawmakers should be doing on the other side of a global pandemic is hampering the ability of businesses and workers to get back on their feet.” – Taxpayers Protection Alliance
 
“What is of course most troubling is that Weil’s blatant agenda has [an] effect on Americans looking to take advantage of opportunities provided in the gig economy, independent contracting, and related small business opportunities. The 21^st Century reality is that millions of workers are purposefully [choosing] to perform independent contracting work to make a better living for themselves and their families... That includes underserved communities such as Latinos, who represent an outsized share of America’s independent contractors, meaning that they would be disproportionately harmed by the types of radical regulations pushed by Weil.” – Hispanic Leadership Fund