Never A Dull Moment For Anti-Worker Attorneys (son of Supreme Court Justic

[Omaha Steve]

Full article: http://spewingforth.blogspot.com/2006/07/never-dull-moment-for-anti-worker.html

I often joke about how there are a whole crew of high-priced attorneys at corporate law firms in DC who miss the good old days when OSHA actually did things like issue standards. No better opportunity to run up those billable hours than an OSHA standard that takes ten years to issue, and several more to run through the inevitable lawsuits.

But, of course, I was wrong to have worried. There's never any shortage of opportunities to screw workers.

You may have seen this unfortunate development in today's news:
A federal judge struck down a Maryland law yesterday that would have effectively forced the nation's largest employer, Wal-Mart Stores, to spend more money on health care for its employees here.

U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz ruled that the "Wal-Mart Law," which won overwhelming support in the General Assembly this year, ran afoul of a 32-year-old federal statute intended to protect corporations from having to navigate a patchwork of benefits requirements from state to state.

The ruling could stymie plans by labor unions and health-care advocates to replicate Maryland's law in states across the country and turn the legislation into a model for shifting more of the health-care burden onto large corporations.
The lawsuit was brought by the Retail Industry Leaders Association, of which Wal-Mart is a member.

And representing the retail association was none other than Eugene Scalia, known to most as the son of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. But Gene is best known to us health and safety types as one of the leading lawyers in the fight to kill OSHA's ergonomics standard. To reward his services, President Bush nominated Scalia to be Solicitor of Labor, the Labor Department's chief lawyer. Fortunately, there were enough Senators who didn't understand how a strident opponent of regulating Americas biggest health and safety problem would fit in as the Departments chief attorney, forcing President Bush to go around Senate confirmation with a one-year recess appointment. But after a year Gene either decided he'd never be confirmed or that the job wasn't as much fun (or as lucrative) as private practice, so he packed his briefcase and headed back to his previous lair at the lawfirm of Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher.

[acmavm]

1. The Scalia family. A pox on the ass of humanity.