Seyfarth Synopsis: Trump Administration DOL issues notice of proposed rulemaking to rescind Obama Administration DOL's long-embattled final persuader rule. The proposed rule is open for public comments for 60 days.
Last year, we reported extensively on the Department of Labor's final persuader rule, which was scheduled to take effect on July 1, 2016 and would have required certain public reporting by employers and their consultants (including attorneys). However, as we reported in late June 2016, a federal district court in Texas issued a nationwide preliminary injunction preventing the rule from taking effect.
The most recent development in this saga took place just over a week ago, with the Trump Administration's DOL issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking to formally rescind the Obama Administration DOL's final persuader rule. In the notice of proposed rulemaking, the DOL said that it is seeking to rescind the rule so that it can consider in more detail the interaction between the new categories of "indirect" persuasion that were created by the rule and the role of attorneys in advising their clients. The DOL also said that it is proposing to rescind the rule so that, if it elects to change the scope of reportable activity beyond what has been in place since 1962, it can provide as thorough an explanation of its statutory interpretation as possible. The DOL also said that it is proposing to rescind the rule in light of "limited resources and competing priorities."
The proposed rule was opened for public comments last Monday, and the comment period will last for 60 days. We plan to submit comments in a letter to the DOL, and we would be more than happy to include our readers' comments in our letter. If you would like us to incorporate any particular points, please reach out to your favorite Seyfarth labor lawyer.
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