Senate votes down Weil’s nomination to lead Wage and Hour

President Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division was defeated in the Senate.

On Wednesday, March 30, Senators voted 53-47 against the nomination of David Weil, who previously held the role for three years under the Obama administration.

Opposition toward Weil mostly surrounded concerns regarding his views toward worker classification.

The International Franchise Association released a statement of opposition earlier this week.

“IFA strongly urges all senators to oppose the nomination of David Weil to the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor,” said Michael Layman, the group’s senior vice president for government relations and public affairs. “Dr. Weil’s track record previously serving in this role and his ideological agenda leave no doubt that his policies would harm the hundreds of thousands of local franchise businesses around the country and the 8.2 million workers they employ. At a time when we are counting on small businesses to rebuild our economy, we ask all senators to reject this flawed nomination and protect local businesses and their workers.”

In February, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association voiced its concerns about Weil’s nomination in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

“During Dr. Weil’s previous tenure as head of the Wage and Hour Division, he issued policies that sought to expand the definition of ‘employee’ as broadly as possible,” OOIDA wrote in the letter signed by President and CEO Todd Spencer. “If confirmed, we believe he would likely pursue similar policies that could limit truckers’ ability to continue using the owner-operator model as they have for decades.”

Instead of sweeping changes to worker classification in the trucking industry, OOIDA said the administration should look to the truth-in-leasing regulations that the Association helped establish.

“We believe that some of the problems with the mistreatment and misclassification of truckers could be addressed if the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration would show any interest in enforcing these rules,” OOIDA wrote. LL