On July 18th President Trump announced his intention to nominate Eugene Scalia to replace former Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta.  Gene Scalia is the son of late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.  In 2002, following an appointment by former President George W. Bush, Gene Scalia served as solicitor of the Department of Labor.

Mr. Scalia has a history of fighting agency regulatory actions, including an appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia related to the broadened use of the General Duty Clause to employers.  Mr. Scalia was the appellate attorney who argued the case of Secretary of Labor v. SeaWorld before that Court In that case, one of the primary arguments related to the expanded use of Section 5(a)(1) of the OSH Act, or, as it is more commonly known, the General Duty Clause.  Mr. Scalia argued that it was not the intent of the Act to apply to every working scenario such as the work with whales at SeaWorld or football players playing in the NFL.  In a 2-1 decision, the Court’s decision upheld the agency’s citation to SeaWorld, however, Judge Kavanaugh (current Supreme Court Justice) wrote a dissent in which he stated, “it is simply not plausible to assert that Congress, when passing the Occupational Safety and Health Act, silently intended to authorize the Department of Labor to eliminate familiar sports and entertainment practices, such as punt returns in the N.F.L., speeding in Nascar, or the whale show at SeaWorld.”

By many, Mr. Scalia would be an asset to the Department of Labor.

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Photo of Tressi L. Cordaro Tressi L. Cordaro

Tressi L. Cordaro is a Principal in the Washington, D.C. Region office of Jackson Lewis P.C. She is co-leader of the firm’s Workplace Safety and Health Practice Group. She advises and represents employers on occupational safety and health matters before federal and state…

Tressi L. Cordaro is a Principal in the Washington, D.C. Region office of Jackson Lewis P.C. She is co-leader of the firm’s Workplace Safety and Health Practice Group. She advises and represents employers on occupational safety and health matters before federal and state OSHA enforcement agencies.

Ms. Cordaro has advised employers faced with willful and serious citations as the result of catastrophic events and fatalities, including citations involving multi-million dollar penalties. Ms. Cordaro’s approach to representing an employer cited by OSHA is to seek an efficient resolution of contested citations, reserving litigation as the option if the client’s business objectives cannot otherwise be achieved. As a result, she has secured OSHA withdrawals of citations without the need for litigation.

Ms. Cordaro’s unique experience with government agencies involved in OSHA enforcement enables her to provide employers with especially insightful guidance as to how regulators view OSHA compliance obligations, and evaluate contested cases.

Ms. Cordaro served as the Presidentially-appointed Legal Counsel and Special Advisor to the past Chairman and Commissioner Horace A. Thompson, III at the U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Review Commission (OSHRC) in Washington, DC, the agency that adjudicates contested federal OSHA citations. As the Commissioner’s chief counsel, Ms. Cordaro analyzed all cases presented to the OSHRC and advocated the Commissioner’s position during decisional meetings.

In addition, Ms. Cordaro worked at the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety & Health Administration developing OSHA standards, regulations and enforcement and compliance policies, with emphasis on the construction industry. She has in-depth experience on technical issues including, in particular, issues related to cranes and derricks in construction.