Trump Takes Steps to Undo Obama Legacy on Labor
If Mr. Trump’s second board nominee fits the same profile —
and the management-side lawyer said to be in line for the position, William J. Emanuel, appears to do so — they would almost certainly join with the board’s current Republican member, Philip A. Miscimarra, to undo crucial portions of the board’s legacy from the Obama era.
Now, by filling two vacant seats and swinging the board from a Democratic majority
to a Republican majority, Mr. Trump could reverse the following actions:
• A ruling that increased the likelihood that companies could be held responsible for labor violations committed by contractors and franchisees.
“I found him to be very thoughtful and careful,” said Marshall B. Babson, who was a Democratic member of the board under President Ronald Reagan,
and has worked for years as a management-side lawyer and interacted with Mr. Kaplan.
On Monday, the White House announced the nomination of Marvin Kaplan, a lawyer serving on a federal health
and safety commission, to one of two vacant seats on the board, which currently has a 2-to-1 Democratic majority.
• A ruling that made it easier for relatively small groups of workers within a company to form a union.
The previous doctrine held that only direct control of working conditions made the parent company a joint employer
