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 Signs Executive Order Creating ‘Schedule G’ Political Appointments

This new schedule, which is largely duplicative of the already existing Schedule C, will create more political appointee slots at federal agencies, making their work more partisan.
 
Impact: Alhough policy priorities change at federal agencies from administration to administration, the core work of agencies is supposed to remain constant regardless of political leadership. By creating more slots for political appointees at agencies, this could make the core work more political and endanger the protective and service delivery functions of government agencies.

Trump Admin Ends Labor Violation Enforcement Program for Undocumented Workers

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) sunsets the Deferred Action for Labor Enforcement (DALE) program, designed to encourage undocumented workers to come forward with labor violations.
 
Impact: Under the Biden-era DALE program, undocumented workers involved in a state or federal labor investigation could apply to USCIS for four years of deferred action from deportation and temporary work authorization. The end of DALE could impede federal and state labor law enforcement efforts.

Trump Nominates James Murphy and Scott Mayer to the NLRB

Murphy is a partner at management-side law firm Ogletree Deakins, and Mayer is the chief labor counsel at the Boeing Corporation. Ogletree is a well-known union-busting firm, and Boeing has engaged in longstanding union-busting campaigns to prevent its employees from engaging in collective bargaining.
 
Impact: With the addition of these two pro-management members to the Board, expect the Board's actions and decisions to reflect their bias toward management.

IRS Developing Computer Program to Give ICE Access to Confidential Taxpayer Information

Although undocumented immigrants have long been encouraged to secure Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs) to pay federal taxes—and many have done so—the IRS is now ready to give U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) unfettered access to this information, so that it can go to the homes of immigrant tax filers for the purpose of detaining and deporting them.
 
Impact: In the short term, this leaves millions of taxpaying workers and their families vulnerable to detention and deportation. In the long term, it will discourage immigrant workers from paying federal taxes and will increase the risk of data breaches with people's supposedly confidential taxpayer information.

OSHA Reduces Penalties for Small Businesses

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will reduce penalties for businesses with 35 or fewer workers by 15% to 70%.
 
Impact: This will make the cost of not properly caring for health and safety much cheaper for small businesses and, in particular, provide low-road employers incentive to cut even more corners on health and safety.

Supreme Court Green-Lights Trump Plan to Dismantle U.S. Department of Education

The U.S. Supreme Court is allowing the Trump administration to continue with plans to lay off almost 1,400 workers from the U.S. Department of Education (ED), further enabling the administration’s stated goal of dismantling the department.
 
Impact: These firings have left the ED unable to carry out its core responsibilities required by Congress, including duties to support special education, enforce civil rights laws, and distribute financial aid. Although ED is a congressionally authorized government agency and cannot be eliminated without congressional action, this latest ruling will allow Trump to effectively dismantle the ED without congressional action.

Trump Administration Fires 17 Immigration Judges

The Trump administration fired 17 immigration judges across 10 states without cause. In one case, the judge was fired after speaking with Sen. Dick Durbin (IL) during his visit to a Chicago immigration court. A shortage of immigration judges contributes to the long time it takes to resolve immigration cases.
 
Impact: The Trump administration claims to want to speed up those waiting periods by hiring more immigration judges, but 103 judges have either been fired or took voluntary buyouts since Trump took office, reducing the total number of immigration judges to fewer than 600. Congress allocated more than $3 billion in its reconciliation bill to bolster the hiring of immigration judges and support staff. But firing judges without cause over a perceived political disagreement—and stacking immigration courts with new ones—is a concerning dynamic amidst the administration’s brutal crackdown on immigrant communities.

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