Mike Kun Quoted in Article, "Obama's Pick for Wage and Hour Predicted to Be a Tough Enforcer"

David Weil, the Boston University economics professor nominated by President Barack Obama Sept. 11 to fill the long-vacant post of administrator at the Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division, is likely to take a tough stance on enforcement, observers told Bloomberg BNA Sept. 12.

Obama's choice "indicates both a continued commitment to the division's aggressive enforcement strategy and a willingness to endure potentially heated confirmation proceedings," Michael S. Kun told Bloomberg BNA.

After the president's first two attempts to fill the post were withdrawn, some people may have speculated that he would nominate "something of a 'compromise' candidate," Kun said. "Dr. Weil's writings, which are considered to be the blueprint for the Division's beefed-up enforcement practices during the Obama administration, would certainly indicate that he is no 'compromise' candidate, and that, if this is a battle Senate Republicans choose to take up, the confirmation hearings could be protracted and contentious," he said.

If Weil is confirmed, Kun said, there is "every reason" to believe the division's "aggressive enforcement strategy" will continue. "And there is a possibility that they could be even more aggressive," he added. ...

Kun predicted that Weil may face difficult questions at his confirmation hearing. "Hearings involving academics like Dr. Weil are naturally more involved for the simple reason that, unlike many who build their careers within the government, academics often have dozens of published articles for Congress to pick through," he said. "And you know that already some interns have been assigned the task of plowing through the footnotes of Dr. Weil's articles to see what could be used at those proceedings."