Moshe Marvit received an unusual email from the White House. The Greenfield resident’s resume had attracted attention and President Joe Biden thought Marvit was suited for a position in the administration.
The White House asked Marvit if he was interested in a phone call. Marvit said yes.
“I remember going to the call, not knowing exactly which position, and joking that they were going to make me ambassador to Morocco,” Marvit told the Chronicle.
The White House wasn’t interested in sending Marvit abroad. Instead, the question was whether the lawyer was keen on a position with the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission. The independent agency provides administrative trial and appellate review of legal disputes arising under the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977.
Marvit, an attorney who specialized in labor law, said yes to the White House’s inquiry and began a several-year process.
After nomination, Marvit was interviewed by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. The Committee tied. At the end of the Senate session, Marvit’s nomination was sent back to the White House. After the President renominated him and sent him back to the HELP Committee, Marvit was voted out of Committee. Marvit did not get a vote on the Senate floor before the end of the session, however, so he was sent back to the White House again. The President renominated him once more. Marvit was voted out of Committee and finally got a vote on the Senate floor on March 6 — a day “when all the Democrats were present,” he said.
“You hope you can get unanimous consent,” Marvit said of the vote. “I didn’t.”
The decision mirrored party lines with the Pittsburgher being confirmed by a yea-nay vote of 50-49. Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama didn’t vote.
Since confirmation, Marvit said he’s never understood why Republicans opposed his nomination.
“It always made me wonder in terms of what it is that they thought or were afraid of,” he said. “I’m a fairly mild mannered person. I don’t get angry. I believe in workers’ rights. I’m not going to go in and be a tyrant as a boss. But it’s a mystery to me why that transpired the way it did.”
Marvit, 45, has called Pittsburgh home since his family moved to the city in 1990. As a child, he spent several years at Hillel Academy of Pittsburgh and attended services with his family at New Light, Torath Chaim and Beth Shalom congregations.
“My father is still a member of Young Peoples and I have a 4-year-old son who goes to CDS (Community Day School),” he said. “I feel very much a part of the Pittsburgh Jewish community.”
When the White House reached out years ago, the first question Marvit asked was whether he’d have to relocate to D.C.
“They said no. If they said yes, it would have been a very different conversation,” he told the Chronicle. “I like Pittsburgh a lot. I feel comfortable here. We lived in Chicago for a while. We lived in Romania, northern Canada, and we came back to Pittsburgh — my father’s here, I help take care of him — it’s just somewhere I feel comfortable and I just never really felt that in D.C.”
Marvit splits his time working from home, the agency’s Pittsburgh office and the nation’s capital. He travels to D.C. to hear oral arguments and discuss cases with colleagues. Decisions are made by a panel of five commissioners.
“It’s the best job in the world,” he said. “I get to review cases, add to this body of law that we have, help create case law that brings out the purpose of the congressional act to help keep miners safe and protect their free speech.”
Marvit speaks passionately both about his work and society’s need to understand its legal protections.
“People should know their rights and speak up for themselves and their fellow workers,” he said. “True strength in the workplace comes from working with your fellow worker…I feel like you can feel alone in the workplace, and I wish more people would get together and speak more openly about their pay, about the things that bother them.”
Whether it’s having the choice of working Saturdays or Sundays, getting Jewish holidays off, working from home or “being able to turn your cell phone off in the evening so that the boss can’t just send you emails and call you at 10 o’clock at night. Those are things people negotiate for and that everyone cares about,” he continued. “I hope people really think about their role as a worker in the workplace and talk to their fellow workers about it. I know we’re in the election season and things are going to change one way or the other, but I think real change really happens more at the workplace than it does at the ballot box.”
Marvit’s term expires Aug. 30, 2028. Commissioners are eligible for renewal. Marvit hasn’t thought that far ahead. He said he’s simply enjoying his current role: “It’s really a dream job — even if it only lasts for the next four years.” PJC
Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
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