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 Nominates Andrea Lucas for Another Term on the EEOC

Since becoming Acting Chair of the EEOC, Lucas has led the agency in abandoning claims on behalf of transgender individuals, has issued statements and documents purporting to be guidance attacking diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, and is making demands of 20 large law firms, without any legal authority to do so, to turn over information about their DEI practices.
 
Impact: Lucas, who voted with the Democrats on some matters in the past, has been completely catering to the Administration's attacks on civil rights and has shown no evidence of independence since Trump has taken office.

OFCCP Director to Weaponize Agency Against Civil Rights

The new Trump-appointed director of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), Catherine Eschbach, told employees that the agency must “conduct an autopsy” of its actions and regulations. Eschbach wrote that the agency has until late April to verify that companies are no longer utilizing affirmative action plans, and will advise Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer on ways to use the agency’s investigative authority to intimidate corporations, nonprofits, foundations, associations, and universities that practice diversity, equity, and inclusion.
 
Impact: Until Trump’s rescission of Executive Order 11246, OFCCP was dedicated to ensuring equal opportunity in workplaces at companies and other institutions that contract with the federal government. The Trump administration now seeks to both rescind most of the agency’s mission and weaponize the agency against entities that attempt to continue to protect civil rights and utilize best practices to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Trump Administration guts the Civil Rights and Immigration Liaison Offices within the Department of Homeland Security

The Trump Administration fired virtually everyone from the offices within DHS that work to ensure that our nation's immigration policies are carried out in a manner that protects the civil rights of immigrants.
 
Impact: Essentially, there is now no office within DHS through which immigrants can report any violations of their civil rights, giving the Trump administration even more free rein to carry out detention and removal proceedings in a cruel and illegal fashion.

The NLRB Drops a Case Against an Immigrant Detention Center which Allegedly Retaliated Against Detainees’ Concerted Activities

Detainees were working full time for as little as $1 per day and when they engaged in labor strikes, they were punished, including being sent to solitary confinement.
 
Impact: With the NLRB dropping the case that was brought by the former General Counsel, it is clear that they will not protect immigrant detainees against abuse and unjust working conditions while they are in detention centers.

The Department of Justice and the EEOC Issue “Warning” Against “Illegal” Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Practices

This is yet another attempt by the administration to scare employers into giving up their perfectly legal diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, all of which are designed to help ensure compliance with the civil rights laws.
 
Impact: As more employers become scared of the Administration's witch-hunts, they could scrap their best efforts to comply with the civil rights laws and make it harder for women, people of color, and other disadvantaged groups to fully and fairly compete for employment for which they are qualified.

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