Legislative and Regulatory News for the Week of June 28

Posted on July 5, 2009 by Governmental Affairs Team

The following is a summary of the labor- and employment-related regulatory and legislative news for the week of June 28, 2009:

Agency Changes

President Obama announced his intent to nominate George H. Cohen as director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS).

Discrimination in the Workplace

The U.S. Supreme Court held in Ricci v. DeStefano that the City of New Haven’s failure to certify test results that would have disqualified African American firefighters from receiving promotions was discriminatory against the white and Hispanic test takers who received qualifying scores and was therefore a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.

Meanwhile, Rep. George Miller (D-CA) announced that the House Education and Labor Committee will hold a hearing on the Supreme Court’s opinion in Gross v. FBL Financial Services. In this case, the Supreme Court set the evidentiary bar higher for a plaintiff bringing a mixed-motive age discrimination claim under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA).

Immigration

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued Notices of Inspection (“NOIs”) to more than 600 businesses as part of its new audit initiative.
 
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Obama Names George Cohen as his Pick for FMCS Director

Posted on July 1, 2009 by Jay Sumner

On Monday, President Obama announced his intent to nominate George H. Cohen to serve as the director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS), the independent federal agency charged with, among other things, handling the arbitration and mediation of labor disputes and contract negotiations. If the Employee Free Choice Act passes with its current first contract interest arbitration provisions intact, Cohen presumably would be charged with implementing those provisions as well.

According to biographical information published by the Peggy Browning Fund, a nonprofit corporation dedicated to educating law students and providing work experience in the area of workers' rights, Cohen practiced for 40 years as a well-respected union-side labor lawyer. During this period, he argued five cases before the U.S. Supreme Court involving matters ranging from collective bargaining to workplace safety.

Before being named as Obama’s pick for FMCS Director, Cohen worked as a mediator, and currently is a member of the Mediation Panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Prior to working in the private sector, Cohen served as an attorney advisor and appellate attorney for the National Labor Relations Board, and – according to the aforementioned bio – is credited with “help[ing] shape the progressive, union and worker friendly agenda of the ‘Kennedy Board.’” Cohen has also served as the Union Co-Chair of the first American Bar Association (ABA) Committee on Sports and Entertainment Law and the first ABA Committee on the Occupational Safety and Health Law. Additionally, Cohen has taught the Art of Collective Bargaining among other labor-related courses as an adjunct professor at Georgetown Law School.

Cohen received his undergraduate and law degrees from Cornell University and its Law School, and an LLM degree from Georgetown Law.

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