By Dan Danner
Finding a job is getting harder every day. The unemployment rate has clawed its way back to 9.1 percent and the weak economic recovery appears to be unwinding.
But lawyers who specialize in suing employers have little fear of losing their livelihoods. The federal government has come to their rescue, soliciting disgruntled workers itching to sue over alleged discrimination or wage law violations.
Thanks to the “Bridge to Justice,” a new matchmaker program launched by the Department of Labor and run by the America Bar Association, lawyers can sign up new clients just by answering the phone. On the other end will be a steady stream of unhappy employees who’ve called Labor’s Wage and Hour Division with complaints. And for even more government-sponsored aid for those squabbling over paychecks, the agency now provides a free, cell phone app to help calculate unpaid overtime they believe they’re due.
During a recent visit to a North Carolina small business, President Obama proclaimed: “I will not be satisfied until everyone who wants a good job that offers some security has a good job that offers security.”
That speech was intended to signal support for Main Street job creation, but the real beneficiaries of job security provided by Washington are trial lawyers who are virtually ensured full employment in filing lawsuits against employers.
At the same event, the president added: “I won’t be satisfied until the empty store fronts in town are open for business again.” But with both the federal government and now private attorneys targeting employers, it may be a long time before he is satisfied.
Employers are being slapped from all quarters with these frivolous lawsuits. Last year alone, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission processed nearly 100,000 complaints under the Civil Rights Act’s Title VII discrimination guidelines’a 33 percent increase in just five years.
EEOC seems to be following the example of other administration agencies by aggressively re-interpreting major laws that Congress has written. It recently reversed a decision by its own investigative staff in a discrimination claim that was ultimately dismissed in court for lack of evidence. Although the charge was found to be obnoxious behavior rather than actual discrimination, EEOC has begun a push to expand discrimination law to include rudeness as a cause for action.
Congress and the federal government must understand that equal employment opportunities cannot exist without profitable places of employment. With the average cost borne by a small business defending itself against a discrimination complaint these days reaching in upwards of $200,000, profitable employers are getting harder to find.
The National Federation of Independent Business, which represents more than 350,000 small firms, has established the NFIB Employment Hotline, 866-678-NFIB (6342), to help employers stay abreast of federal employment law. But at the rate EEOC is ramping up its assault on entrepreneurs who provide jobs and pay wages, coupled with an economy headed in the wrong direction, the Bridge to Justice could turn Main Street into a dead-end for America’s small businesses.
Dan Danner is president and CEO of the National Federation of Independent Business, which represents 350,000 small-business owners in Washington, D.C. and every state capitol.
