On March 18, 2013, the Obama administration announced that Thomas Perez will be nominated for the vacant Secretary of Labor post. Mr. Perez is currently the head of the Civil Rights Division at the Justice Department. If confirmed, he will replace Hilda Solis, who left the Department of Labor in January of 2013.
Mr. Perez must go through a confirmation process in the Senate before assuming the Secretary of Labor position. Various news reports suggest that there may be opposition to his nomination because of his strong positions on a number of civil rights issues while at the Department of Justice. Mr. Perez has pursued various discrimination actions throughout his career, first as a federal prosector and later as a leader in the civil rights sections of several different cabinet level departments.
There is currently no timing on when Mr. Perez's confirmation hearings will take place. It is also currently unknown how Mr. Perez's appointment will affect various agencies within the Department of Labor (DoL) such as the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP). OFCCP head Patricia Shiu has made no announcements concerning her future plans, but her continuing tenure in the agency will depend in part on decisions the new Secretary of Labor makes about the direction of OFCCP and other DoL agencies.
No comments:
Post a Comment