Bill to hire chief labor officer clears legislative committee by a single vote

A controversial proposal to hire a “chief labor officer” to help handle an unprecedented deluge of unemployment claims brought on by the pandemic squeaked through a Georgia House committee Monday.

The Industry and Labor Committee approved, 6-5, Senate Bill 156 and sent it to the House Rules Committee to schedule a floor vote.

The bill, which the state Senate passed 32-18 two weeks ago, would add a chief labor officer to the Georgia Department of Labor’s payroll, appointed by the governor to work with the state labor commissioner.

The measure came in response to a barrage of complaints lawmakers have been subjected to for months from jobless constituents whose unemployment claims were being delayed. Claimants have described a lack of response from the labor department, including telephone calls going unanswered.

Georgia Commissioner of Labor Mark Butler attacked the bill before the committee last week as both unnecessary and unhelpful. He said a bringing in a new management employee lacking knowledge in how the agency operates would do nothing to speed up claims processing.

On Monday, Roy Bowen, president of the Georgia Association of Manufacturers, echoed Butler’s concerns.

Week in and week out, the manufacturing job sector accounts for the second or third-largest number of initial unemployment claims filed with the labor department. Last week, 2,287 laid-off manufacturing workers filed for unemployment in Georgia, behind only the accommodations and food services and administrative and support services sectors.

“Georgia has handled this issue much better than any other state,” Bowen told members of the House committee before Monday’s vote.

“No other department was as prepared to deal with the onslaught, the tsunami of unemployment claims.”

Bowen said hiring a chief labor officer to join a department already headed by a statewide elected commissioner would set a bad precedent.

“What you’re looking for is an ombudsman or liaison,” he said. “To call this person ‘chief labor officer’ is going to lead to havoc, confusion and undercutting of the labor commissioner.”

But the bill’s supporters say something needs to be done to help the overwhelmed department improve communications with claimants.

“This is in no way to criticize anyone personally,” Sen. Marty Harbin, R-tyrone, the bill’s chief sponsor, said during last week’s committee hearing. “These are unusual times.”

Acknowledging the unique nature of the pandemic, the bill includes a sunset provision calling for the chief labor officer position to expire at the beginning of 2023.