Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced his support of a joint lawsuit filed by the Lubbock Chamber of Commerce against the United States Department of Labor.
Paxton spoke at the Chamber of Commerce Tuesday, where he said the federal government has overreached by enacting the “Persuader Rule,” which requires information between attorneys and clients in the form of small business owners.
“The administration has reinterpreted this idea that businesses and individuals can get advice on activities related to union activity,” Paxton said. “It’ll affect the practice of law, it’ll affect the ability of businesses to be able to get confidential legal advice, and may prevent them from going in and getting that advice.”
“National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), Texas Association of Business (TAB), National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), and Texas Association of Builders (Texas Builders) in filing a lawsuit in Lubbock Federal Court against the DOL challenging the constitutionality of the new regulations. These changes to the Persuader Rule potentially expose every employer to reporting requirements and disclosures,” the Chamber said in a statement.
“The attorney/client privilege is sacrosanct,” said attorney Fernando Bustos, who helped file the motion. “Without it, you cannot effectively represent your clients. The privilege belongs to the client. The client has a right to have its conversations with lawyers kept secret and confidential, so that they know how to be advised and how to follow the law, and how to best run their businesses. Without the attorney/client privilege, legal representation can’t be effective.”
“The Obama Administration’s Department of Labor has passed a rule that violates an act of Congress. It was an act of Congress that says businesses have the right to get confidential attorney/client information when faced with union organizing drives,” Bustos said.
“Our argument is that the state is controlling and regulating law practice, and that the federal government doesn’t have a right eliminate attorney-client privilege in a certain class of cases,” Paxton added. “Confidentiality is a cornerstone issue.”
“When you hurt a small business, you hurt everyone,” said Annie Spilman, Texas Legislative Director for the National Federation of Independent Business. “In Texas, small businesses employ over 4 million workers in the state. So you’re not really just affecting the employer, you’re hurting 4 million employees and that hurts this economy.”
“The American Bar Association has said that attorneys are going to be less likely to number one practice labor law and advise these small business employers, because all of that attorney/client information is going to be exposed,” Spilman explained, calling the federal guidelines “another stab at small business from the Department of Labor.”
The State of Texas, alongside Arkansas, Alabama, Indiana, Michigan, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin all joined the lawsuit, according to Paxton.
Paxton called this stance against the Labor Department a “historic day for Lubbock, great day for Texas, and really a historic day for all states.”
