US Senate confirms Seema Nanda as solicitor for labour department

THE United States Senate on Wednesday (14) confirmed Indian-American civil rights lawyer Seema Nanda as the solicitor for the country's department of labour. Nanda, a former chief executive officer of the Democratic National Committee who also served in the labour department in the Barack Obama administration, was confirmed by the upper chamber of the US Congress by 53-46 votes.

Congressional Asian pacific American Caucus chair Judy Chu welcomed the Senate voting result to say, “I am thrilled to congratulate Seema Nanda on her confirmation to serve as Solicitor for the Department of Labour. Whether it’s risks from coronavirus, rising temperatures from climate change, or unscrupulous employers, workers continue to face difficult challenges every day.”  She said these challenges said all the more why choosing somebody like Nanda as the solicitor of labour was significant.

“Her office will play a central role in fighting legal battles and challenges. With experience as the deputy solicitor and chief of staff at the Department of Labour under Secretary Tom Perez, I know that Seema will be a champion for workers' rights and vulnerable communities from the very start,” Chu added.

In the past, Nanda has worked as the chief of staff, deputy chief of staff and deputy solicitor of the labour department when Obama was the president and current president Joe Biden was his deputy. She has more than 15 years of experience in various roles as a labour and employment attorney, mostly in government service.

Nanda was in charge of the now named Office of Immigration and Employee Rights Section of the US justice department’s civil rights division. There, she was a supervisor attorney in the division of advice at the National Labour Relations Board and worked as an associate in private practice in Seattle in the western US state of Washington.

After the Obama era came to an end, Nanda led the DNC as the CEO and also as the chief operating officer and executive vice president at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. She is currently a fellow at Harvard Law School’s Labour and Worklife Programme. Nanda grew up in the southeast American state of Connecticut and is a graduate of Brown University and Boston College Law School.