Bob Lian Speaks with CCBJ on Employment Law under the Biden Administration

Akin Gump labor and employment practice head Bob Lian has been featured in the Corporate Counsel Business Journal article “Anticipating the Biden Administration’s Approach to Labor.” In this Q&A, Lian discusses the direction employment law might take under the Biden administration.

Lian began by discussing the current state of workplace laws, regulations and litigation, noting that one of the most noteworthy changes over the past several years “has been the extent to which states and localities have become involved in regulating the workplace. That includes laws about minimum wage, workplace harassment, leave or other workplace protections.”

Another significant trend, Lian observed, “has been how courts, legislatures, and regulatory bodies have been trying to fit workers in the gig economy and other nontraditional workforce arrangements into legislative schemes that in many cases have their origins in the 1930s.”

The article then turned to the topic of occupational safety, with Lian saying he expects to see “some sort of temporary emergency rule around COVID-19.” More broadly, though, he thinks there will likely be an increase in enforcement of OSHA rules.

As for what likely will not change, Lian said he sees a continuation of efforts “to effectuate change through notice-and-comment rulemaking and through sub-regulatory means, through enforcement guidance, directives, and interpretations of existing law, without having to use formal rulemakings or legislation.” Lian also thinks the tight margins in Congress could lead to private litigation continuing to be “the main avenue of enforcement of workplace laws, as opposed to government-initiated actions.”

To read the article in its entirety, please click here.