Seth Harris

Seth Harris
United States Deputy Secretary of Labor
In office May 26, 2009 – January 16, 2014
President	Barack Obama
Preceded by	Howard Radzely
Succeeded by	Chris Lu
United States Secretary of Labor Acting
In office January 22, 2013 – July 23, 2013
President	Barack Obama
Preceded by	Hilda Solis
Succeeded by	Thomas Perez
Personal details
Born	(1962-10-12) October 12, 1962
Spouse(s)	Karen Beth Rosen[1]
Alma mater	Cornell University New York University
Religion	Judaism

Seth D. Harris (born October 12, 1962) was the 11th United States Deputy Secretary of Labor, and served for six months as the Acting U.S. Secretary of Labor and a member of President Barack Obama's Cabinet.^[2][3] Nominated by President Obama in February 2009, Harris was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate in May 2009, and became acting Secretary of Labor following the resignation of Hilda Solis in January 2013. Harris was also a member of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation's Board of Directors.^[4] Harris stepped down from his post on January 16, 2014.^[5] Since leaving the Obama Administration, Harris has been a Distinguished Scholar at Cornell University's School of Industrial & Labor Relations,^[6] and Counsel in the Public Policy & Regulation and Employment & Labor practices of Dentons, a global law firm.^[7] Harris is also a member of the United Cerebral Palsy Association's Board of Directors.

Early life and education

His father is the late Dr. Jonathan Harris, a high school teacher and author of young adult non-fiction books.^[8] His mother is Martha Harris, a retired high school librarian.^[8] Harris’s brother is radio personality Paul Harris.^[9] Harris earned a B.S. from the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations in 1983 and was a member of the Quill and Dagger society.^[10] He later obtained a J.D. from New York University School of Law where he was editor-in-chief of the Review of Law & Social Change^[11] and a member of the Order of the Coif.^[10] Harris was a law clerk to Chief Judge Gene Carter of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine and Judge William C. Canby, Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.^[12]

Career

Prior Labor Department service

Harris served as Counselor to the Secretary and in other Labor Department policymaking roles for seven years advising both President Clinton’s first-term Labor Secretary Robert Reich and second-term Secretary Alexis Herman on legal, policy and management issues.^[10]

Academic career

For nine years prior to joining the Obama Administration, Harris was a Professor of Law and Director of Labor & Employment Law Programs at New York Law School.^[12] Harris’s scholarship focused on the economics of labor and employment law, with a particular emphasis on the employment provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act.^[13] He has also written about the National Labor Relations Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, worker organizing, and employment discrimination laws in general.^[13]

Harris served as a Senior Fellow of the Life Without Limits Project of the United Cerebral Palsy Association^[14] and a member of Georgetown University Law School’s Workplace Flexibility 2010 National Advisory Commission^[15][16]

Obama connections

Harris served as a member of the Agency Review Working Group of the Obama-Biden Transition Team with responsibility for the federal government’s transportation, labor, and education agencies.^[16] Harris also chaired Obama for America’s Labor, Employment and Workplace Policy Committee and Disability Policy Committee.^[16] He had served as a member of the Clinton-Gore Transition Team in 1992 and 1993.^[10]

Personal life

In 1997, Harris married Karen Beth Rosen, a social worker and psychotherapist.^[8]

Articles and books

• Harris, Seth D.; Slater, Joseph E.; Lofaso, Anne Marie; Gregory, David L. (2013). Modern Labor Law in the Private and Public Sectors: Cases and Materials (LexisNexis pub.) http://www.lexisnexis.com/store/catalog/booktemplate/productdetail.jsp?prodId=prod19650488.  Missing or empty |title= (help)
• Dau-Schmidt, Kenneth G.; Harris, Seth D.; Lobel, Orly (2009). Labor and Employment Law & Economics (Edward Elgar Pub) http://www.e_elgar.co.uk/Bookentry_contents.lasso?id=13000.  Missing or empty |title= (help)
• Seth D. Harris and Michael Ashley Stein, "Workplace Disability" in Labor and Employment Law and Economics (Kenneth G. Dau-Schmidt, Seth D. Harris, and Orly Lobel, eds.), Edward Elgar Pub., 2009, webpage: "Labor and Employment Law".
• James P. Baker, David B. Mixner, and Seth D. Harris, The State of Disability in America: An Evaluation of the Disability Experience by the Life without Limits Project (UCP 2007), webpage: UCP-282, United Cerebral Palsy Association.
• Seth D. Harris, "The Mis-Directed Debate Over the Economics of Disabilities Accommodations," in Human Resources Economics and Public Policy: Essays in Honor of Vernon M. Briggs, Jr. (Charles J. Whalen, ed.), W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, 2009, webpage: Upj145.
• Seth D. Harris, “Law, Economics, and Accommodations in the Internal Labor Market,” 10 U. PA. J. BUS. & LAB. L. 1 (Fall 2007).Social Sciences Research Network
• Seth D. Harris, "Disabilities Accommodations, Transaction Costs, and Mediation: Evidence from the EEOC's Mediation Program", 13 Harv. Negot. L. Rev. 1 (Winter 2008), webpage: SSRN-648, Social Sciences Research Network.
• Seth D. Harris, "Don't Mourn — Reorganize!: An Introduction to the Next Wave Organizing Conference Volume", 49 N.Y.L.Sch. L. Rev. 303 (2005-2006).Social Sciences Research Network
• Seth D. Harris, "Innocence and The Sopranos", 49 N.Y. L. Sch L. Rev. 577 (2004-2005).Social Sciences Research Network
• Seth D. Harris, "Introduction: Understanding the Context for the ‘Coehlo Challenge’", 48 N.Y. L. Sch. L. Rev. 711 (2004).Social Sciences Research Network
• Seth D. Harris, "Re-Thinking the Economics of Discrimination: US Airways v. Barnett, the ADA, and the Application of Internal Labor Markets Theory", 89 Iowa L. Rev. 123 (Oct. 2003).Social Sciences Research Network
• Seth D. Harris, "Coase's Paradox and the Inefficiency of Permanent Strike Replacements", 80 Wash. U. L.Q. 1185 (2002).Social Sciences Research Network
• Seth D. Harris, "Conceptions of Fairness and the Fair Labor Standards Act", 18 Hofstra Lab. & Emp. L. J. 19 (Fall 2000).Social Sciences Research Network
• Seth D. Harris, Note, "Permitting Prejudice to Govern: Equal Protection, Military Deference, and the Exclusion of Lesbians and Gay Men from the Military", 17 N.Y.U. Rev. L. Soc. Change 171 (1989-1990).
• "Old 9-to-5 Grind Begins to Look Good", Los Angeles Times (Op Ed), June 1, 2003 at M5.
• "A Short Transition (Thank Goodness)", Washington Post (Op Ed), December 20, 2000 at A35.
• "The Pizza Hut Subsidy", Washington Post (Op Ed), October 4, 2000 at A33.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Seth Harris.

• United States Department of Labor, Seth Harris