Mark Lies Quoted in Human Resource Executive
“Labor Issues Loom Large”

Mark Lies was quoted in the February 19, 2010 Human Resource Executive online article, “Labor Issues Loom Large.” The article discussed the increased funding for the enforcement of labor laws in President Obama’s proposed budget that could force companies to make difficult changes to the way they run their businesses and possibly impact job creation. According to the article, the budget includes a proposed $14 billion for the Department of Labor, with increases targeted at a number of agencies including the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Wage and Hour Division and the Employee Benefits Administration.

Mark commented, “It appears that a lot more of the resources are going to be allocated toward enforcement, meaning inspections and citations as opposed to what was considered to, before, be more of a consultative role [for OSHA].” Mark further noted that now is not the best time to be coming down on employers who may have already been forced to conduct layoffs or slow down production lines. “To go out there right now and pick them apart for extension cords or pick them apart because a forklift truck tire's got a few more chunks of rubber out of them or somebody fumbles their question during an OSHA interview and [fine] them $7,000, $7,000, $7,000, I'm not sure that's in their best interest.”