Obama goes to bat for bosses — Home health resolution — Liberal group attacks DOL for coddling Credit Suisse

By Brian Mahoney

With help from Timothy Noah and Mike Elk


DRIVING THE DAY — OBAMA GOES TO BAT FOR BOSSES. Even as the president urges Congress to raise the minimum wage, Justice department lawyers will today ask the Supreme Court to rule against warehouse workers suing an Amazon subcontractor for overtime. The workers, who must queue up for anti-theft security checkpoints before leaving the workplace, say they should get paid for that.

The administration’s stance is influenced not by President Obama’s well-articulated views on economic inequality, but at least partly by its role as employer of 2.7 million civilians--many of whom spend some part of their day, yes, waiting in a security line. For obvious budgetary reasons, the administration would rather they were off the clock. Expect the president’s conservative critics, his liberal allies, and the comedy-political complex to tee off on this. Pros can read more from Brian Mahoney here: http://goo.gl/mORYnE

HOME HEALTH RESOLUTION — The Department of Labor will tamp down, temporarily, enforcement of a regulation granting overtime to home health care workers. Disability groups had sought a delay or modification, fearing that state legislatures lacked sufficient time to appropriate Medicaid funds needed to pay for the overtime, and would therefore cut services instead.

Under the new policy, DOL won’t formally delay the previously established January deadline. But for the first six months of 2015, “the department will not bring enforcement actions against any employer” for failing to grant home health workers overtime pay. Labor groups that opposed any delay aren’t squawking about this fudge. Mike Elk has more for Pro subscribers: http://goo.gl/91YOHS

GOOD MORNING and welcome to our second Morning Shift, POLITICO Pro's daily tip sheet on labor and employment policy. We’re resuscitating the workforce beat--one of the loneliest at big-city dailies (ask the New York Times’s Steven Greenhouse) and also, given America's still-fairly-anemic economic recovery, one of the most urgently important. Keep the compliments, criticisms, jokes and exclusives—especially the exclusives--coming our way: [email protected], [email protected], and [email protected]. And follow us on Twitter at @ mahoneypolitico, @ MikeElk, @ TimothyNoah1 and @ ProMorningShift.

EXCLUSIVE: LIBERAL GROUP ATTACKS DOL FOR CODDLING CREDIT SUISSE — This morning Public Citizen is sending a letter to the DOL's Employee Benefit Security Administration asking the agency to punish Credit Suisse for criminal tax evasion.

Credit Suisse pled guilty to tax charges earlier this year, endangering its status as a qualified professional asset manager (a designation that allows it to manage a LOT of money). Public Citizen argues that DOL should now disallow it from managing pension funds, as the law ordinarily requires. Last month the department proposed waiving sanctions. Public Citizen claims the Obama administration is wimping out on its past promises to clamp down on "Too Big to Jail" banks.

"Firms that engage in criminal activity should face real consequences," Public Citizen says in its letter. "Where those consequences are excused, the firm is invited to become a repeat offender; and the deterrence effect for other firms is nullified."

MINE WORKERS HOLD PROTEST AT EPA'S FRONT DOOR — The United Mine Workers of America marched to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's front lawn yesterday to show disapproval for the Obama administration's coal power regulations.

Hundreds of union folks, from boilermakers to train operators, marched with AFL-CIO representatives from Freedom Plaza to the William Jefferson Clinton building housing EPA’s headquarters, chanting “U-M-W-A.” Erica Martinson has more for Pro subscribers: http://goo.gl/NqLi3q

** A message from The International Franchise Association . The franchising industry includes more than 770,000 establishments and employ 8.5 million workers in the United States. Learn how the franchise business model works and the positive impact franchising has on America’s economy by visiting www.franchisefacts.org. **

WE WISH IT WERE SO, JOE! Roll Call's Steven Dennis reports that Vice President Joe Biden misstated the poverty-fighting effects of raising the minimum wage at yesterday’s roundtable in Los Angeles. While the White House says lifting the wage to $10.10 would raise wages for 28 million people, Biden went a little (OK, a lot) further, saying that raising the wage would bring 28 million people out of poverty. Whoops.

“If we raise the minimum wage nationally to $10.10, that takes 28 million people out of poverty: 28 million people out of poverty,” Biden said, according to the report.

WHAT'S THE TRUTH? Raising the minimum wage to $10.10 would likely bring 900,000 people out of poverty, Roll Call said, citing the Congressional Budget Office. Just for the record: that's 27.1 million people fewer than Biden's mistaken claim. Read more here: http://goo.gl/e70Njk

'OUTSOURCING' DRIVING DEBATE IN GEORGIA RACE: Georgia Republican Senate candidate David Perdue’s remarks on outsourcing continue to haunt his campaign against Democrat Michelle Nunn, according to POLITICO’s James Hohmann.

Hohmann reports that Nunn repeatedly hammered Perdue for outsourcing jobs in a debate Tuesday night — even in response to unrelated questions — a sign her campaign believes the outsourcing story line can narrow a race that favors the GOP. Read more here: http://goo.gl/2YPLVI

FIREFIGHTER UNIONS RUSH INTO IOWA RACE —POLITICO'S James Hohmann writes that the International Association of Fire Fighters is launching a quarter-million dollar attack on Iowa Republican Senate candidate Joni Ernst — part of a push for Democrats in key races across the country.

"The union also plans to place a sizable buy in the Louisiana Senate race in the coming days to boost Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu ahead of November’s jungle primary and to attack Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker." Hohmann has more for Pros: http://goo.gl/VsBnoV

L.A. CITY COUNCIL FLOATS WAGE BILL — During Biden's visit yesterday, L.A. city council members introduced a bill that would raise the minimum wage to $13.25 an hour by 2017 and then peg future increases to the Consumer Price Index (CPI). A study conducted by the University of California Berkley Institute for Research on Labor & Employment estimates that 567,000 Los Angeles workers could see a pay raise as a result of similar legislation introduced by L.A. mayor Eric Garcetti. The city council will further consider raising the minimum wage to $15.25 an hour by 2010. Read more from the L.A. Times here: http://goo.gl/8zCLqt

THAT NEW FED LABOR MARKET INDICATOR? IT MOVED MARKETS! — On Monday the Fed introduced its Labor Conditions Market Index (LMCI), which henceforth will aggregate on a monthly basis 19 statistics, including not only the unemployment rate but also the labor force participation rate, average weekly hours, quit rates, and average hourly earnings. It’s a “dynamic factor model,” which means it’s weighted toward indicators that correlate with one another.

Hello? Still awake?

If you are, maybe you’d better call your broker. Bloomberg reports that even if you didn’t pay attention, the markets did. The LCMI painted a less rosy picture of working Americans over the past year than BLS unemployment stats have, but a slight rebound (2.5 points) in September. That sent 10-year note yields down to almost their lowest level in a month, Bloomberg says. More here.

COFFEE BREAK

International Business Times' David Sirota challenges New Jersey governor Chris Christie's denial that his administration "injected political considerations" into the management of New Jersey's pension funds: http://goo.gl/DKpiFf

Walmart Zen Riddle: If a big-box retailer revokes health insurance coverage for 30,000 part-time employees, blaming new costs associated with Obamacare, and simultaneously invites a corporate partner to broker Obamacare policies inside its stores to boost foot traffic, then … sorry, lost my train of thought.

DOL Secretary (and future Attorney General?) Tom Perez touts his agency's record against workplace retaliation http://goo.gl/vPXapb

OSHA is investigating the accidental death of a Kia worker at the carmaker's West Point, Ga., plant: http://goo.gl/8C23Ga

Lufthansa says it will continue operating even though its pilots intend to strike today and tomorrow in Germany: http://goo.gl/5N5EMm

Minneapolis Federal Reserve President says inflation, and not the labor market, should determine Federal Reserve policy, Reuters reports: http://goo.gl/vTdrZM

THAT'S ALL FOR TODAY'S MORNING SHIFT. NOW STOP MALINGERING AND GET BACK TO WORK!

** The International Franchise Association. IFA is the world’s largest and oldest organization representing franchising. America's 770,000 franchise businesses employ one out of every eight private sector workers in the United States. For more information about how the franchise business model works, visit www.franchisefacts.org. **

Follow us on Twitter Rebecca Rainey @rebeccaarainey