Columbus partner Mike Asensio, who practices exclusively in the area of Management Labor and Employment Law, was quoted in a December 1 Washington Post article, "Labor Dept. Accused of Straying From Enforcement."
According to the article, the next labor secretary will be taking charge of an agency widely criticized for walking away from its regulatory function across a range of issues, including wage and hour law and workplace safety. Labor activists say that focusing so closely on the concerns of employers shortchanges workers and that a shift in emphasis is long overdue, while many businesses say the agency's enforcement regime often becomes onerous under Democratic administrations, leading to burdensome reporting requirements and a type of punitive enforcement that they say stifles economic growth. "Bigger than any legislative change that may be out there is the question of funding," said Asensio. "The criticism is that because funding for enforcement has been cut, they don't have enough investigators out in the field."