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 Wage and Hour Division to Stop Seeking Liquidated Damages Against Employers
The U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division (WHD) issued field assistance instructing regional solicitors (RSOLs) to stop seeking liquidated (i.e., double) damages against employers over unpaid minimum wage and overtime.
Impact:
The DOL instructions to field staff reflect the Trump administration’s position that liquidated damages from employers for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) can only be awarded in judicial proceedings, not as part of pre-litigation settlements collected through the agency. Historically, DOL WHD has sought liquidated damages for workers through litigation or litigation-related settlements for FLSA violations like unpaid minimum wages or unpaid overtime compensation. Congress authorized liquidated damages in wage theft cases because without them, an employer basically gets a loan from the wages they illegally withheld. Liquidated damages are the penalty that makes it unprofitable to steal wages.
Federal Judge Orders Job Corps to Keep Running During Lawsuit
U.S. District Judge Andrew Carter granted a preliminary injunction to prevent the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) from shutting down Job Corps.
Impact:
Judge Carter rejected DOL’s claims that it did not need to follow a congressionally mandated protocol for closing down Job Corps centers because it was “pausing” not closing Job Corps centers and their activities. Job Corps aims to support young adults who struggled to finish traditional high school and find jobs. The program provides tuition-free housing at residential centers, training, meals and health care.
Federal Judge Blocks Trump Admin Rollback of Collective Bargaining Rights for Federal Workers
U.S. District Judge James Donato in San Francisco is temporarily blocking Trump’s executive order that barred workers in 21 federal agencies from exercising their collective bargaining rights.
Impact:
In March, the Trump administration issued an executive order barring about one million federal workers from being represented by unions—by claiming collective bargaining agreements “violated national security.” Judge Donato cited plausible retaliation concerns from unions who are challenging the Trump administration’s federal workforce policies in court. Civilian federal workers have had collective bargaining rights for more than 60 years.
Department of Labor Announces It Will Not Enforce 2024 H-2A Regulations That Provide Greater Protections for Agricultural Workers
H-2A agricultural workers face pervasive workplace abuses, including lack of safety, unpaid wages, and retaliation if they complain about work conditions. The Biden administration had strengthened protections against such abuses.
Impact:
Agricultural workers, not only those here on H-2A visas, will have fewer protections against illegal workplace treatment.
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.
Departments of Justice and Interior Lose Thousands of Staff to Buyout Offers
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Department of the Interior are set to lose thousands of employees through buyout incentives and voluntary early retirement programs since the Trump-Musk DOGE program began. DOJ is set to lose some 4,500 employees. Roughly 11 percent of Interior employees have accepted buyouts, amounting to about 7,500 workers—more than 1,000 staffers each from the National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey, and Bureau of Reclamation.
Impact:
While these buyout and early retirement programs are technically voluntary, they come in the coercive context of widespread funding cuts, layoffs, and threats of additional layoffs. Many federal workers are taking these offers rather than risk being laid off later. Meanwhile, the public loses out on the critical services provided by these workers—including civil rights and employment law enforcement work at DOJ—whom in many cases the administration does not plan to replace.
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.
Trump Administration Tries to Make It Easier to Fire Federal Employees
The Office of Personnel Management issued a memorandum directing managers to give their supervisees lower performance ratings and move to fire them more quickly in spite of civil service protections.
Impact:
This is yet another piece of the administration's plan to hollow out federal agencies, get rid of employees, and eventually fill those spots with partisan loyalists.
National Archives and Records Administration Lays Off 100 Workers
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) told employees that it would cut about 3 percent of its staff, or about 100 employees.
Impact:
NARA is the federal agency tasked with preserving governmental and historical records, including those housed at presidential libraries. It performs an important transparency function, ensuring that records of events and government decisions are owned by and shared with the public.
DOGE Funding Cuts Force State-Level Layoffs
Cuts to federal grant programs driven by DOGE are causing significant layoffs to state agencies that rely in part on federal funding. In March, President Trump canceled $11.4 billion in Centers for Disease Control (CDC) grant funding originally intended for COVID-19 that many states were using for testing and reporting for bird flu, measles, and other infectious disease threats. And in April, DOGE gutted the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), which provided grants to libraries.
Impact:
State public health departments, library systems, and other agencies across the country (including in Utah, Virginia, Arkansas, Alaska, Washington, South Dakota, and Maine) have laid off staff and reduced critical public services. A federal judge halted the CDC cuts, but states have not received the money they were expecting. Nor has the administration changed course after a Government Accountability Office report found that withholding IMLS grant funding from recipients is illegal.