During the first three weeks of his term, President Barack Obama has filled a number of vacancies, including top spots at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the National Labor Relations Board and the Office of Personnel Management.
Venable partner Ron Taylor was among several labor and employment policy watchers discussing Obama’s appointments in a story published by Human Resources Executive Online on February 9, 2009.
Taylor said that HR leaders should not expect any quick changes in the short-term.
However, Taylor does expect that there will be measures taken to ease the burden on unions to organize and to promote a more union-friendly agenda.
"There will be a fair amount of subtle things designed to be consonant with organized labor to undo some of the actions of the Bush administration that unions saw as anti-union," he said. "We'll see reform designed to give organized labor a bigger seat at the table."
Taylor suggests that HR executives at companies need to make sure they are sensitive to, and compliant with, all current employment acts. “Now's the time to go back and double-check and make sure you don't have problems. Because no matter who gets appointed, the better your house is in order the less risk you will have,” he said.