Worker Policy Watch
Your source for accurate and reliable information on how federal policies are shaping workers’ rights—and what’s at stake for working people nationwide under the Trump administration.
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Trump’s Labor Department Cancels State Unemployment Modernization Grants
Under the Trump administration, the Department of Labor is terminating hundreds of millions in grant funding to states for modernizing and improving state unemployment systems--including preventing fraud, waste, and abuse, as well as promoting access for people in rural areas, for workers with disabilities, for older workers, and for workers without college education.
Impact:
States have already entered into contracts to modernize and improve their UI programs based on these grants that were obligated well before the Trump administration. States could lose as much as $500 million in funding and would have to cancel projects or pay the money out of state coffers, if available, in order to satisfy their contractual obligations with vendors.
The Supreme Court Signals Reversal of Decades of Legal Precedent by Allowing Trump to Fire Independent Agency Board Members
The Supreme Court has refused to reinstate independent regulators fired by the Trump administration in a temporary order that forecasts the likelihood of reversal of 90 years of legal precedent to protect independent regulatory bodies.
Impact:
While the court order is technically temporary and the case will continue to play out in the lower courts, it is a strong endorsement of presidential authority by the Supreme Court, despite decades of legal precedent and a contradiction of statutes enacted by Congress that bar the president from firing members of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the Merit Systems Protections Board without cause.
Trump Administration Reverses Course and Reinstates Some Federal Health Workers
After pressure from labor groups and members of Congress, the Trump administration has reinstated around one-third of the nearly 900 workers at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) who were facing layoffs.
Impact:
Despite the reversal for some NIOSH workers, many note that the cuts to NIOSH continue to jeopardize the safety of workers across many industries. NIOSH is the leading federal agency providing guidance and conducting research on the prevention of workplace injury, illness, and death.
Trump Nominates Brittany Panuccio to EEOC
President Trump nominated Brittany Panuccio to be a commissioner on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Panuccio is currently an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Florida. Previously, she worked in the first Trump administration in the Department of Education under Secretary Betsy DeVos and in the Department of Justice supporting the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Impact:
At Trump’s direction, EEOC Acting Chair Andrea Lucas has stopped enforcing civil rights laws that protect trans workers, attacked diversity, equity, and inclusion practices, and removed critical resources from the commission’s website. The commission, designed by Congress to be independent and bipartisan, is currently deadlocked at 1-1 due to Trump’s unprecedented firing of Democratic commissioners Charlotte Burrows and Jocelyn Samuels. If Pannucio is confirmed, the EEOC would have a 2-1 Republican majority and the quorum Lucas needs to take votes that could further roll back civil rights in the workplace.
NIOSH Lays Off Most of Its Remaining Staff
The Trump administration is attempting to shut down this important agency, which conducts scientific research into workplace health and safety issues and oversees certification of health and safety equipment.
Impact: Employers and other state and federal agencies rely on NIOSH's research to keep workers safe from occupational hazards. Without NIOSH, workers will be endangered on the job without known ways to mitigate or prevent those dangers.
Trump Proposes Slashing One Third of the Department of Labor’s Budget for FY2026
Under Trump’s budget proposal for FY2026, the Department of Labor’s (DOL) discretionary budget would shrink from its current $13.3 billion to $8.6 billion for next fiscal year.
Impact:
The bulk of the budget cuts would come from the elimination of the Job Corps program and overhauling DOL’s grant programs. The Job Corps program supports young Americans age 16-24 who are not working or currently in school and lack access to the skills needed for gainful employment. The DOL's grants cover areas including skills training, workforce development, and support for vulnerable populations.
Under Trump DOL Will Halt Enforcement of 2024 Independent Contractor Rule, Making it Easier for Employers to Misclassify Workers
The Acting Administrator of the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division issued a memo notifying that it will no longer apply the 2024 Independent Contractor (IC) Rule’s analysis when determining employee versus independent contractor status in FLSA investigations.
Impact:
The Wage and Hour division will now revert back to the 2019 guidelines issued by now Deputy Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling. The 2024 IC rule has multiple pending legal challenges. The Rule provides guidance for determining who is an IC (and therefore not a protected employee) under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the Trump administration reverting to it’s 2019 guidance and will make it easier for employers to misclassify their workers as independent contractors.
Federal Appeals Court Temporarily Pauses Mass Firings at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
A previous panel authorized layoffs if a "particiularized assessment" was made about each employee and it was decided for valid reasons they could be fired. This appeals panel found that the CFPB rushed to fire people and did not conduct the required assessments.
Impact: The Trump administration is attempting to fire 90% of the staff at the CFPB, essentially shutting down this Congressionally created and authorized agency.
Federal Judge Temporarily Blocks Trump’s Executive Order that Attempts to Revoke Federal Union’s Ability to Represent Their Members in Nearly a Dozen Agencies
The court ordered federal agencies to continue bargaining and dealing with the unions that represent federal employees.
Impact: At least for the time being, federal sector employees who are members of unions continue to enjoy all their rights to representation and collective bargaining.
Trump Administration Fires All Employees in the Firefighter Health and Safety Program at NIOSH
This program works to protect firefighters from the harmful effects of toxins, chemicals, and carcinogens that they are exposed to on the job.
Impact: Firefighters already have a 9% higher chance of a cancer diagnosis and a 14% higher chance of dying from cancer than the general population. Without the efforts of this program within NIOSH to protect them, those rates and other health problems will likely increase for our nation's firefighters.