If confirmed, one of Thomas Perez's first tasks as Secretary of Labor is expected to be deciding whether to change the proposed persuader rule or let it proceed as written. Perez's responses to most questions on the proposed rule submitted by Republican members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee during the confirmation process provided little insight into his thinking. “If confirmed, I look forward to learning more about the issue and working with the Members of the Committee and other stakeholders to address [persuader] reporting in a fair, legal, and balanced way,” he replied repeatedly.

Responding to one question, Perez added that, “This regulation would limit the statutory 'advice' exemption to the natural definition of advice. Pure advice would not trigger disclosure requirements, but a consultant who directs supervisors on anti-union efforts, shares antiunion literature, or develops personnel policies in order to discourage unionization would,” a statement Littler Mendelson Shareholder Michael Lotito found “troubling.”

“Hopefully he recognizes that you really can't separate advice from persuasion,” Lotito says. “Trying to distinguish between the two is foolish.”