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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Federal Agencies Have Resumed Firing Workers Across the Government
Since the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to resume its planned reductions in force (RIFs), the Office of Personnel Management has ordered the "maximum elimination" of all federal agency functions not required by law.
Impact:
Essential goverment functions of delivering human services, enforcing laws, and keeping the public safe from hazards are in jeopardy.
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.
The U.S. State Department is Firing More Than 1,300 Employees by Email
Our nation's diplomatic corps are being gutted.
Impact:
More than 1,300 public servants and their families are now threatened with income loss and economic insecurity until they can find new jobs.
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.
DOL Issues Guidance Mandating That Federally Funded Employment Services Can Only Be Given to People With Work Authorization
Reversing a Biden-era policy, the Trump DOL will not provide workforce development or employment services to undocumented workers.
Impact: Among the services now banned are help obtaining work authorization and enforcing employment rights applicable to all workers regardless of work authorization.
USDOL Announces $5 Million in Grants to Expand Apprenticeship Opportunities for Women
U.S. Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer has announced a $5 million funding opportunity for grants for 14 groups to attract and retain women in apprenticeship programs in manufacturing, construction, cybersecurity, and other in-demand industries.
Impact:
The Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations (WANTO) Grant Program plans to support community-based organizations to recruit, train, and retain women in registered apprenticeships and high-demand occupations.
U.S. Supreme Court Allows Trump’s Mass Firings of Federal Public Servants to Proceed
The Supreme Court has rejected a lower court’s order to block the Trump administration from mass firings and reorganizing of federal agencies without approval from Congress.
Impact:
The Supreme Court’s decision could pave the way for more firings of workers, as some agencies announce they will resume plans for mass layoffs in light of the ruling. The planned mass firings could impact tens of thousands of workers from the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Health and Human Services, State, Treasury, Veterans Affairs, and more than a dozen other agencies.