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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DOGE Put Millions of Americans at Risk For Identify Theft According to Whistleblower
A whistleblower is alleging that an Elon Musk ally at DOGE has put at risk the social security information of millions of Americans by violating agency policy and putting sensitive personal data on a vulnerable server.
Impact:
The information at risk includes Social Security records and other identifying information for over 300 million Americans, putting hundreds of millions at risk for identify theft if accessed by bad actors. To date, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has claimed they are not aware of any security breeches at this time.
U.S. Labor Force Has Lost 1.2 Million Immigrant Workers This Year, New Report Finds
A Pew Research Center analysis of Census data has found that 1.2 million immigrant workers left the U.S. labor force between January and July 2025. That total is inclusive of both documented and undocumented immigrants.
Impact:
Immigrant workers contribute to job growth and overall economic strength, and make up nearly 20% of the U.S. workforce. Businesses in industries that disproportionately rely on immigrant workers, like agriculture, construction, and care work, are particularly hard hit, with reports of wasted crops and construction slowdowns.
Mothers Are Leaving the U.S. Workforce in 2025
New analysis finds that the workforce participation rate for mothers aged 20 to 44 with young children declined by two percent from January to July 2025. This decline is driven by numerous factors, but the Trump administration’s approach of emphasizing jobs in male-dominated fields, rolling back flexible work arrangements like remote work, and attacking diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace are all likely contributing to this trend.
Impact:
Reversing both short and long term trends to push mothers out of the labor force will make it harder for these workers to support their families and weaken the economy, which will lose access to their skills and contributions.
Federal Appeals Court Threatens NLRB’s Constitutionality
Trump-appointed Fifth Circuit judge Don Willet authored a ruling finding that the structure of the National Labor Relations Board is likely unconstitutional. Elon Musk’s SpaceX is among the corporations which have sued in federal court, seeking to avoid accountability for alleged violations of federal labor law by attempting to gut the NLRB’s authority.
Impact: The court kept in place injunctions freezing the NLRB’s enforcement actions against the companies, so the workers in those cases will not be made whole. The Supreme Court may soon have an opportunity to weigh in on the constitutional question, which would have huge implications for bedrock labor rights in America.
Proposed Department of Education Rule Would Restrict Public Service Loan Forgiveness
The Department of Education proposed new restrictions on the public service loan forgiveness program. The PSLF program forgives the balances on certain federal student loans for individuals employed by government or not-for-profit organizations after 10 years. The department now proposes to exclude employers it judges to be substantially involved in "illegal" activity.
Impact:
The administration has engaged in a broad-based effort to weaponize the federal government in service of its partisan political goals and against institutions that the president sees as political opponents - from universities to law firms to nonprofits and foundations. PSLF was intended to support workers who chose to use their talents in service of the public interest. Trump sees it as yet another tool to chill political speech and attack practices like diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Appeals Court Rules Trump Administration Can Proceed with CFPB Layoffs
A federal appeals court in Washington, DC ruled 2-1 that the Trump administration can proceed with its plan to dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau through mass layoffs.
Impact:
The plaintiffs in the case, which includes the union representing CFPB employees, will likely appeal to the full DC circuit. If the layoffs do ultimately take place, it would cement an action that Trump and Elon Musk have been pursuing since February, when they put CFPB staff on administrative leave and halted all enforcement actions. The agency was created in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis and exists to protect consumers from exploitation. Its enforcement authority includes important worker issues, like workplace surveillance.
Trump Administration Strips Gender Affirming Care from Federal Workers
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) informed insurance carriers that the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program would no longer cover gender affirming care for covered adults. OPM had already eliminated care for individuals under the age of 19.
Impact:
Gender affirming care saves lives and is critical to mental and physical health care for those who need it. Removing it puts federal employees at risk and makes it harder to recruit and maintain a workforce that reflects the diversity of the country, which includes trans and nonbinary people.
CDC Workforce Still Reeling in Aftermath of Misinformation Fueled Violence At Headquarters
Workers at Centers for Disease Control (CDC) headquarters in Atlanta are demanding stronger workplace protections after an August 8th attack by a gunman upset by false claims about the Covid-19 vaccine shot and killed a security guard.
Impact:
The violence at the Atlanta headquarters comes after the CDC has lost a a quarter of its staff through layoffs or voluntary departures since the start of the second Trump administration. Many staff at CDC blame the shooting on misinformation about the Covid-19 vaccine, and are voicing concern with the role Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F Kennedy Jr. is playing in the spread of that misinformation.
NLRB Acting General Counsel Pressures States to Halt Labor Enforcement Measures
The National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) Acting General Counsel William Cowen issued a statement pushing states not to pass laws that would provide for state-level enforcement of bedrock labor rights. Trump has severely hamstrung the Board through the unprecedented and partisan removal of Board Member Gwynne Wilcox, leaving the agency unable to act as a backlog of hundreds of cases build up and workers without the recourse they are entitled to under the law.
Impact:
The Trump administration is trying to have it both ways – paralyzing the NLRB and insisting that only the NLRB can protect labor rights. As a result, workers across the country are more vulnerable to exploitation, retaliation, and other union-busting tactics. The law makes it clear that protecting the right of workers to act collectively in their workplaces is the policy of the United States, and the Trump administration is once again ignoring the law in favor of the interests of corporations and the wealthy.
Trump Administration Cancels Union Contracts at FEMA, USCIS, Food Safety Agencies
The Trump administration has cancelled union contracts at several federal agencies, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and the Agriculture Department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, as unions warn of reduced agency services to the public.
Impact:
The National Association of Agricultural Employees is suing the Trump administration in district court. This follows an earlier appeals court ruling that will allow the administration to move forward with plans to strip collective bargaining rights from two thirds of federal workers.