The U.S. Department of Labor informed Congress today that the President intends to nominate Leon Rodriguez as Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division.

The top job at DOL’s Wage & Hour Division has been vacant during the Obama Administration. The President’s first nominee, Lorelei Boylan, withdrew from the confirmation process in October 2009. Ms. Boylan’s confirmation was stalled because of the controversy over the nomination of Solicitor of Labor Patricia Smith (confirmed on February 4, 2010); Ms. Boylan worked for Ms. Smith at the New York Department of Labor.

According to the DOL, Leon Rodriguez currently serves as Deputy Assistant Attorney General and Chief of Staff in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, where he oversees the operations of the Division and leads its work on immigration and national origin-related civil rights matters.

Mr. Rodriguez holds a B.A. from Brown University and a J.D. from Boston College Law School. He has spent most of his career working in the public sector, including serving as the County Attorney for Montgomery County, Maryland; an Assistant U.S. Attorney and First Assistant U.S. Attorney in Pittsburgh; and a trial attorney in the Criminal Section of the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division. Mr. Rodriguez began his legal career in 1988 serving as an Assistant District Attorney in the Kings County District Attorney’s Office in New York.

Thus far, our research has not uncovered any information regarding Mr. Rodriguez’s experience with the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Davis-Bacon Act, the Service Contract Act or any other laws enforced by the Wage & Hour Division.

This entry was written by Tammy McCutchen.