Voting over, plans announced, transition on hold, nation held up

In the greatest outpouring of voters in U.S. history, Joe Biden won a clear victory over Donald Trump. The change in the Executive Branch—from each cabinet department to every enforcement and regulatory agency—promises to bring significant changes to the country in general and to the employment sphere in particular.

Changes loom for DOL and federal agencies

Biden's transition team at the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is stacked with some of the most progressive former Obama administration appointees, including Solicitor of Labor Patricia Smith, Deputy Solicitor Deborah Greenfield, Chief of Staff Seema Nanda, Deputy Chief of Staff Raj Nayak, and Wage and Hour Division Senior Policy Adviser Tanya Goldman. The addition of Doug Parker, chief of California's Division of Occupational Safety and Health, and Michele Evermore, who specializes in unemployment insurance at the National Employment Law Project, indicates significantly more reformist activity in these areas if, as is expected, many members of the transition team are named to positions in the new administration.

Thus, the DOL and its agencies, in particular, are expected to issue new, "liberal" policies and positions on joint employment, independent contractors, H-1B visas, and Occupational Safety and Health Act mandates as well as wage and hour opinions on exempt status, workers' rights, and the status of religious rights, just to name a few.

COVID plans delayed by stalled transition