Another Bush Fox Heading for the Henhouse

by Donna Jablonski, Mar 30, 2006

The Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division is supposed to protect your most basic rights at work. Paul DeCamp, President Bush’s nominee to head up the agency, is a doozie.

Get this:

• As a private practice lawyer, DeCamp represented Wal-Mart in trying to prevent a class of 1.5 million women—the largest employment class action ever certified—from suing the company for discrimination in pay and promotions.
• He has proposed taking overtime pay away from workers in ways that were even more extreme than what the administration actually has done—and suggested easy outs for bosses who misclassify workers as not eligible for overtime pay.
• He’s represented businesses opposing union organizing campaigns and fighting unfair labor practice charges.
• He’s represented an employer appealing a record $40 million dollar sexual harassment verdict.
• And he’s fought on the bosses’ sides on collective and individual actions involving the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act and state wage and hour laws.

It’s right there in his bio from a previous gig at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher—one of Wal-Mart’s favorite law firms.

What a perfect background to qualify someone for running the federal agency responsible for protecting workers from employer violations of the minimum wage, child labor laws, the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act and prevailing wage requirements under the Davis-Bacon Act and the Service Contract Act.

No dates have been set yet for hearings on his nomination—but you can bet we’ll let you know when they’re coming.

Print This Article | E-Mail This Article |Comments (0)