On December 13, 2012, Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis announced the inaugural appointees of the Whistleblower Protection Advisory Committee (WPAC).  WPAC was established to “advise, consult with, and make recommendations to the Secretary of Labor and the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA) on ways to improve the fairness, efficiency, effectiveness, and transparency of OSHA’s administration of whistleblower protections.”  The WPAC is comprised of 12 voting members: 3 members represent the public;  4 members represent management; 4 members represent labor; and 1 member represents OSHA State Plans.  There are also 3 non-voting members of WPAC representing federal agencies.  The newly announced members are:

Representing the public:

  • Jonathan Brock, retired Associate Professor, Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs, University of Washington; and Chairman, Hanford Concerns Council
  • Richard Moberly, Associate Dean, University of Nebraska
  • Emily Spieler,  Edwin W. Hadley Professor of Law, Northeastern School of Law (chairperson)

Representing management:

  • David Eherts, Vice President & Chief Safety Officer, Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation
  • Gregory Keating, Shareholder, Littler Mendelson, P.C.
  • Marcía Narine, Visiting Professor at University of Missouri, and Compliance Consultant, MDO Partners
  • Kenneth Wengert, C.S.P., A.R.M., Director of Safety, Environment, and Business Continuity Planning, Kraft Foods

Representing labor:

  • Ava Barbour, Associate General Counsel, International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace & Agricultural Implement Workers of America
  • Eric Frumin, Health and Safety Director, Change to Win
  • Billie Garde, Partner, Clifford & Garde, LLP
  • Nancy Lessin, Program Director, United Steelworkers’ Tony Mazzocchi Center for Health, Safety, and Environmental Education

Representing OSHA State Plans:

  • Christine Dougherty, Discrimination Investigator, Minnesota Department of Labor & Industry

Non-voting members represent federal agencies:

  • Rina Tucker Harris, Enforcement Attorney, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
  • John Van Steenburg, Chief Safety Officer, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
  • Jason Zuckerman, Senior Legal Advisor, United States Office of Special Counsel

Of the committee members who “represent the public,” the appointees seem to heavily favor employee rights, as all of their backgrounds reflect employee advocacy and little or no experience working directly with or on behalf of management.  More specifically, Jonathan Brock formerly worked at the U.S. Department of Labor, where he held several positions, including Executive Director for a task force on state and local government labor-management practices.  He is also currently the Chairman of the Hanford Concerns Council, an organization that assists employees in addressing and resolving concerns with their employers about safety, workplace issues, or environmental hazards.  Richard Moberly has published articles in which he was highly critical of Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblower protections as being inadequate.  He has also been critical of OSHA with respect to its enforcement of the whistleblower statute. He previously testified at Congress’ Whistleblower Protection Hearing in 2007, where Proskauer’s Lloyd Chinn testified as well.  Chairperson Emily Spieler is the former Commissioner of the West Virginia Workers’ Compensation Fund as well as the former Deputy Attorney General for Civil Rights in West Virginia.  She is also a former solo practitioner specializing in labor, employment and civil rights law.  Her practice focused on the legal problems of workers.

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Photo of Lloyd B. Chinn Lloyd B. Chinn

Lloyd B. Chinn is a partner in the Labor & Employment Law Department and co-head of the Whistleblowing & Retaliation Group. He litigates employment disputes of all types before federal and state courts, arbitration tribunals (e.g., FINRA, JAMS and AAA), and before administrative…

Lloyd B. Chinn is a partner in the Labor & Employment Law Department and co-head of the Whistleblowing & Retaliation Group. He litigates employment disputes of all types before federal and state courts, arbitration tribunals (e.g., FINRA, JAMS and AAA), and before administrative agencies in New York and across the country. Lloyd’s practice ranges from litigating compensation disputes to defending whistleblower, discrimination and sexual harassment claims. Although he represents employers in a wide range of industries, including law, insurance, health care, consulting, media, education and technology, he focuses a substantial portion of his practice on the financial services sector. He has tried to final verdict or arbitration award substantial disputes in this area.

Due to Lloyd’s litigation experience, clients regularly turn to him for advice regarding the full range of employment matters, including terminations, whistleblower policy and procedure, reductions in force, employment agreements, and employment policies. For example, in the wake of the financial crisis, he has counseled a number of firms through reductions in force and related bonus and deferred compensation disputes. Lloyd has also been retained to conduct internal investigations of allegations of workplace misconduct, including claims leveled against senior executives.

Lloyd has represented global businesses in matters involving Sarbanes-Oxley and Dodd-Frank whistleblower claims. He has taken an active role in the American Bar Association on these issues, currently serving as Co-Chair of the Whistleblower subcommittee of the ABA Employee Rights and Responsibilities Committee. Lloyd has spoken on whistleblowing topics before a numerous organizations, including the American Bar Association, ALI-ABA, Association of the Bar of the City of New York, and New York University School of Law. He has testified twice before Congressional subcommittees regarding whistleblower legislation and has also published blog postings, articles and client alerts on a variety of topics in this area, including the Dodd-Frank Act’s whistleblower provisions. Lloyd is a co-editor of Proskauer’s Whistleblower Defense Blog, and he has been widely quoted by on whistleblower topics by a number of publications, including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the National Law Journal and Law 360.

Lloyd has also become active in the International Bar Association, presenting on a variety of subjects, including: the #MeToo movement, the COVID-19 pandemic and employment law, and cross-border harmonization of employment provisions in transactions. Lloyd also hosts a quarterly roundtable discussion among financial services industry in-house employment lawyers. He has also published articles and given speeches on a variety of other employment-law topics, including non-solicitation provisions, FINRA arbitration rules, cross-border discovery, e-discovery, and the use of experts.

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Photo of Rachel Fischer Rachel Fischer

Rachel S. Fischer is a senior counsel in the Labor & Employment Law Department.

Rachel represents employers in all types of employment-related disputes, including defending clients against claims of discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wrongful discharge, whistleblowing, breach of contract, and in wage and hour…

Rachel S. Fischer is a senior counsel in the Labor & Employment Law Department.

Rachel represents employers in all types of employment-related disputes, including defending clients against claims of discrimination, harassment, retaliation, wrongful discharge, whistleblowing, breach of contract, and in wage and hour matters. She represents employers in federal and state courts, arbitration tribunals, and before administrative agencies, and has litigated both single plaintiff and class action lawsuits. As an experienced trial lawyer, Rachel has successfully litigated numerous cases from complaint through jury verdict or arbitral award.

Rachel represents employers across a wide variety of industries, including banking and finance, law firms, media and entertainment, sports, and higher education.

Rachel also counsels clients on a broad range of employment law matters, including investigations, employee terminations and discipline, and employment policies and procedures.

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