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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Department of Labor Plans to Begin Deregulatory Agenda
DOL plans to roll back child labor and health and safety protections, as well as wage and hour protections for home care and tipped workers. It also plans to weaken the delivery of unemployment insurance and the protection of private data shared when people apply for UI.
Impact:
The impact of these regulatory rollbacks will be felt across virtually all industries in this country. They will particularly endanger the health and safety of youth workers and mine workers, and will weaken wage protections for vulnerable health care and restaurant workers.
DOGE Cancels Plans to Close 10 NLRB Field Offices
In February, DOGE claimed that it would direct the General Services Administration (GSA) to terminate the leases of 10 local field offices of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). On June 17, GSA reversed course and said that the offices would remain open.
Impact:
The NLRB is the sole enforcer of our nation’s bedrock labor law, and workers rely on local field offices and their staff to adjudicate disputes and enforce the law. Trump has sought to gut the board’s capacity, including through the unprecedented removal of Board Member Gwynne Wilcox. Absent an effective NLRB, workers are even more vulnerable to employer violations of their right to organize.
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.
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.
DOL Announces Wage and Hour Division Appointees
All of the high-level appointees in the Wage and Hour Division come from business and management-side experience.
Impact:
This foreshadows the administration's intent to have the Department of Labor cater to the business community, rather than to the workers it's supposed to serve.
DOL Announces Wage and Hour Division Appointees
This foreshadows the administration's intent to have the Department of Labor cater to the business community, rather than to the workers it's supposed to serve.
EEOC Issues Memo Declaring It Will Stop Funding or Participating in Joint Investigations of Discrimination on Behalf of Transgender People and Investigations Involving Disparate Impact Liability
Although the Supreme Court has ruled that discrimination based on gender identity violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, and although disparate impact liability is embedded in that statute by Congress, the EEOC is removing funding and cooperation from state agencies that investigate and prosecute these claims.
Impact:
This administration and its appointees continue to disregard the clear language of congressionally authorized statutes and the Supreme Court as it attempts to undo civil rights protections for people who do not conform to their beliefs about who should be protected.
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.