On June 20, 2023, the Pennsylvania State Senate Labor and Industry Committee met to consider the nomination of Nancy Walker as Secretary of the Department of Labor and Industry. The Committee voted to report the nomination with a favorable recommendation. You can re-watch a stream of the confirmation hearing HERE.
The Department’s Bureau of Occupational and Industrial Safety (BOIS) administers and enforces safety standards related to, in part, boilers, building construction (Uniform Construction Code), elevators (uniform Construction Code), and flammable and combustible liquid.
Acting Secretary Walker served as the first Chief Deputy Attorney General of the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General’s newly created Fair Labor Section since 2017. Under Walker’s leadership, the Fair Labor Section has worked on behalf of workers and law-abiding employers across Pennsylvania to ensure they are being treated fairly and lawfully and has served as lead counsel in matters of national importance, including lawsuits bringing Administrative Procedure Act challenges to amendments to the tip and joint employer rules, and has led a successful criminal wage and benefit theft investigation resulting in a $21 million dollar plea deal, the largest case of its kind in the country.
Prior to her appointment as Chief Deputy, Walker focused her private practice on labor and employment law throughout the Northeast and mid-Atlantic regions, in federal and state courts, before administrative agencies, and in arbitration and mediation proceedings. She is licensed to practice before state and federal courts in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and State of New York, is a Fellow of The College of Labor and Employment Lawyers and was a long-time volunteer with the Support Center for Child Advocates.
UPDATE: Nancy A. Walker was confirmed by the Pennsylvania Senate on June 21, 2023 to serve as Secretary of the Department of Labor & Industry under Governor Josh Shapiro.