U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings on Monday issued a preliminary nationwide injunction against the so-called “Persuader Rule” that would force businesses during union organizing activities to reveal minute details of their preparations, specifically the sources of the information and the tactics used in their effort to “persuade” their employees not to unionize.
The so-called “Persuader Rule” was set to go into effect this Friday, July 1, but Judge Cummings issued his 86-page stay while the case of National Federation of Independent Business et al. v. Perez et al. goes forward.
The Department of Labor (DOL) rule would require the reporting of all expenditures for even “indirect persuasion” efforts, meaning that the names of the attorneys and their firms would be publicly available.
To lift the injunction, the DOL now must appeal to the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans or to the Supreme Court.
This is the second time that a federal judge in Texas has stopped Obama administration initiatives in their track. In 2015, Judge Andrew Haney issued a stay on President Obama’s executive orders on immigration, which was upheld by the 5th Circuit and left to stand when the Supreme Court tied on the issue.