Coalition urges Congress to nullify DOL 'persuader' rule

The Coalition to Protect a Democratic Workplace, whose members include the AHA, yesterday voiced support for a joint resolution (H.J. Res. 87) to nullify the Department of Labor’s final “persuader” rule and asked Congress to quickly pass it. The coalition said the “unfair and unlawful” rule provides no benefit to employees, but will hinder “confidential and critical” legal counsel for employers on labor relations matters. “For over 50 years, employers and the experts they hire, known as persuaders, had to disclose any arrangements where an expert communicated directly with employees about their decision to unionize,” the group said in a letter of support to the resolution’s sponsor, Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-AL). “The disclosure was intended to ensure employees knew the persuader was acting on behalf of the employer. If the attorneys or other hired experts did not communicate directly with employees, however, but instead simply provided ‘advice’ to the employer about how to legally communicate with employees, then no disclosure was necessary or required. DOL’s final rule eliminates this bright-line ‘advice’ exemption replacing it with an incredibly vague standard, which could require disclosure for a host of interactions between employers, hired experts and associations providing advice on employee or labor relations.”