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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DOL is Considering Stripping Home Care Workers of Rights to Minimum Wage and Overtime
This workforce, which is largely populated by women of color and immigrants, was finally granted federal minimum wage and overtime rights in 2015.
Impact:
Despite enjoying these rights for a decade, this administration clearly has no respect for the grueling and important work done by the over two million home care workers in this country. If DOL repeals these rights, home care workers will see less pay and be forced to work longer hours, endangering their physical health and safety and possibly the health and safety of the people they care for.
Food and Drug Administration Announces It No Longer Recognizes Federal Labor Unions and Will Not Bargain With Them
Workers in these unions, many of whom are facing layoffs, no longer have access to a grievance procedure or representation from their unions.
Impact:
The administration is trying to remove all union rights from tens of thousands of employees in this agency so it can fire them at will, contrary to federal law and their collective bargaining agreements.
Federal Court Stops the Abrupt Closure of All Jobs Corps Programs
Job Corps is a residential job-training program for young adults, including many who aged out of foster care, that serves people who are likely to have difficulty getting good jobs. Participants are housed, fed, and supported while learning important job skills, but the Trump administration sought to shutter the program immediately, which would have left potentially thousands of people homeless.
Impact:
Over 60,000 young adults depend on this program annually.
Supreme Court Allows DOGE to Access Social Security Information
DOGE staff now have access to Social Security numbers, medical records, and tax and banking information for all Social Security number holders in the United States.
Impact:
The privacy concerns are staggering, and data breaches or leaks could have drastic impacts on workers throughtout the country.
EEOC Drops Prosecution of Sheetz Convenience Stores, Which Refused to Hire Job Applicants who Did Not Pass Criminal Background Screening
Based on the legislatively codified theory of disparate impact, the EEOC and federal courts have long maintained that blanket policies refusing to hire people with criminal records disparately impacts workers of color and are therefore illegal. Trump has issued an executive order attempting to abolish disparate impact liability for discrimination.
Impact:
Nearly one in three adult workers has a criminal record. The EEOC has signaled that it will not enforce its own guidance on the use of arrests and convictions in hiring and that workers with records will get no protection from the agency.
While Peacefully Protesting Immigration Policy, SEIU California President is Forcibly Arrested and Injured in the Process
As part of its efforts to forcibly stop peaceful protest against immigration policies, this administration arrested a California labor leader, trying to chill his and others' right to assemble and protest.
Impact:
The militarization of the response to the protests in California is an attempt to scare people and organizations out of exercising their First Amendment rights.
DOL Secretary Chavez-DeRemer Announces Plans to Cut DOL’s Workforce by an Additional 4,000 People
When asked how such a gutted staff could adequately enforce the laws it is charged with, Secretary Chavez-DeRemer stated they will focus more on "compliance assistance" to make sure employers are followoing the law.
Impact:
Compliance assistance may work for employers of good will, who usually are following the law anyway, but it does not compel low-road employers into obeying the law the way that strategic and strong law enforcement does.
DOL Launches Opinion Letter Program Across Five Agencies, Including the Wage and Hour Division and OSHA
Litigants or potential litigants can write to the relevant agency describing the facts of a case and ask for its opinion on whether or not particular actions and scenarios are permitted. This is a program used almost exclusively by employers, who usually get favorable opinions from the Trump DOL.
Impact:
Although not binding in court, opinion letters are often granted deference by judges, and if they are being issued with a bias toward employers, such letters can be used as a type of "get out of jail free" card to avoid liability.
Trump Administration Asks Supreme Court to Allow It to Lay Off Workers at Over Two Dozen Agencies
Lower courts have temporarily stayed the administration's ability to fire thousands of workers who have civil service protections against termination absent just cause.
Impact:
If the administration is allowed to cut all these jobs, federal agencies will not be able to fulfill their missions, deliver the services, and enforce the laws they are charged with.
Trump Proposes Cuts to Other Worker Protection Agencies
Trump wants to cut 4.7% of the NLRB's funding and reduce the EEOC's funding by $20 million.
Impact:
Both agencies have barely avoided furlough in the prior years because of low funding levels. If enacted, these cuts would all but ensure more "reductions in force" and lesser enforcement of civil rights laws and labor rights.