National Clothesline

New Jersey’s government is shut down as I write this month’s article. My mother-in-law is most upset because this means that the casinos in Atlantic City are closed. She now has to find something else to do on Tuesdays and Saturdays until the governmental crisis is resolved.

While the government was shut down, however, it could not do more harm to employers. I think that is a good thing. The laws regulating workplace issues continue to expand at an alarming rate, both at the federal and state level. I have been practicing law nearly 30 years, and I cannot remember a single labor law being repealed or cut back in that entire time.

Why is that? Certainly not every law passed since 1977 is perfect or even good. There are a great deal that deserve to be cut back, eliminated, or drastically rewritten.

For example, does anyone really think the workers’ compensation laws are working as intended?

Instances of employee fraud are on the rise, and some employers find it impossible to stay in business because of increasing premiums. Politicians, on the other hand, campaign on the platform of making the workers’ compensation laws even more anti-employer and pro-employee.

The OSHA laws are so broken that no one believes that safety is the primary concern of that agency.

Compliance with detailed regulations, not safety, is the goal of OSHA. Who can say honestly that a railing 37" high is unsafe when compared with a 36" railing?

Yet, OSHA will issue citations for thousands of dollars to enforce technical regulations, instead of taking steps to assist employers and employees to be more safety conscious.

Our wage and hour laws are impossible to understand. The Department of Labor had the opportunity last year to correct some of the overtime regulations and just made a worse mess of things.

Wage and hour suits are going to increase over the coming years as employers try, and fail, to comply with rules regulating hours and overtime compensation. The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 could use some rethinking after 68 years.

The National Labor Relations Act, which was passed in 1935 and underwent a major revision in 1947, could use a serious face-lift.

Unfortunately, most of the talk about labor reform of the NLRA revolves around making it easier for unions to organize non-union employers.

Perhaps Congress should instead look at sections of the NLRA that allow unions to harass employers on hiring decisions, or engage in demonstrations that cause disruptions for the employer and the public.

Employers should be putting pressure on legislators to revise the laws relating to disabilities, as well as the Family and Medical Leave Act, to ensure that these laws are not being used to keep unqualified individuals employed. Just as the workers’ compensation laws are used by employees to defraud their employers, the ADA and the FMLA are used by bad employees to keep their jobs. Many of these laws were well intended, but in application, they have been disastrous.

I understand that many employers feel helpless to do anything about these laws, but there are candidates who are more pro-business than others.

In addition, there are trade associations and lobbying groups that try to represent the interests of business.

Unless we elect candidates who understand the hardships that business owners experience trying to comply with old labor laws that have lost their original meaning or new labor laws that were enacted without enough thought, we will be forced to live with even more unnecessary legislation.

The next time you read one of my articles that strikes a nerve, send a letter to your federal or state representatives asking for a change.

Spend a few dollars a year to support organizations that look out for employers. If you don’t, organized labor and other pro-employee groups will continue to push legislation that will, eventually, eat away all your profit.