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 an Executive Order Attempting to Void Collective Bargaining Agreements with Federal Unions
The Executive Order purports to void any CBAs that were entered into during the final 30 days of President Biden's term.
Impact:
Many of these CBAs included agreements to allow federal employees to continue to work remotely and the current administration is trying to void these CBAs so that they can force people back into physical offices. Federal sector unions plan to use all available remedies to defend and enforce the current CBAs.
Unions and Worker Groups Sue Trump Administration to Block Roll Back of Federal Workforce Protections
Labor groups and several worker organizations have filed lawsuits to block the Trump Administration’s attempt to make it easier to fire federal workers by stripping them of civil service protections and reclassifying their positions as at-will under “Schedule F.”
Impact:
At least three different lawsuits have been filed as of 1/31/25 to block the Trump administration’s “Schedule F” executive order that threatens the job security of millions of federal employees. The lawsuits are being led by Democracy Forward, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and American Federation of Government Employees, National Treasury Employees Union, and the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).
Vulnerability of Trump Administration Federal Workforce Email System Underscored by Derogatory Email Sent to Thousands of Federal Workers
Federal Worker Security and Privacy Concerns continue to be raised after 13,000 federal employees receive emails with vulgar and derogatory language from a federal employee upset with the Trump Administration.
Impact:
Over 13,000 federal employees at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) received emails with explicit language in response to an earlier Trump administration email imploring federal employees to resign. It underscores the privacy and data vulnerability of federal workers under the new Trump administration’s email system that is vulnerable to hacking and already the subject of a lawsuit brought by two federal employees citing security concerns.
Trump Administration Eliminates ICE Policies that Protected Immigrant Victims of Crime and Civil Rights Violations from Civil Immigration Enforcement
The Acting ICE Director rescinded ICE policies dating back to 2011 that directed ICE officials to employ a victim-centered approach, including by refraining from civil immigration enforcement against immigrant victims of crime and immigrants involved in proceedings to enforce their civil rights, including through labor disputes.
Impact:
The rescission of these policies means immigrant workers who have experienced labor trafficking and other labor or criminal abuses will be more vulnerable to removal even while they are attempting to enforce their labor and employment rights or seeking immigration relief based on these abuses. This will increase ICE’s role in undermining labor standards and chilling workers from reporting abuse to labor agencies or other law enforcement.
US DOL removes pages from its website
DOL has removed important information from its website, making it harder for workers to understand their rights and know what DOL's role is in enforcing them. Worker.gov and employer.gov, sites aimed to make the laws DOL enforces accessible to the public are down and being "updated," all of the blogs, videos, and information about Tradeswomen Building Infrastructure Grants have been removed from the Women's Bureau page, and some information about UI and how people can participate in the regulatory process have also been taken down.
Impact:
Workers now have less plain language information about their rights and how to enforce them. An agency committed to effective enforcement of its laws should be committed to posting more information rather than taking it down.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Stops Processing Claims of Discrimination Against LGBTQ Workers
Trump-appointed leadership at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) directed staff to stop processing claims of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
Impact:
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that this type of discrimination is illegal under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which the EEOC enforces. Workers who face discrimination may still report their claims to the agency, but it is unclear if and when the agency will act on them as it is required to do under the law.
Trump Administration Orders Federal Agencies to Bar Transgender People from Bathrooms Matching Their Gender Identity
Trump appointees at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) directed federal agencies to restrict access to single-sex spaces, like bathrooms, based on “biological sex.”
Impact:
This action is part of a broader set of attacks on both LGBTQ people and federal workers in the opening days of the Trump administration. The administration’s insistence on imposing a biologically inaccurate gender binary will harm the civil rights of transgender people who spend time in federal buildings and create a hostile work environment for federal workers.
Trump Signs Laken Riley Act, a Threat to Immigrant Workers and Job Standards
Trump signed the Laken Riley Act into law, which drastically expands mandatory immigration detention solely on the basis of arrest or charge without due process – including for low-level offenses like petty theft. This costly and wasteful law will unleash chaos on the immigration system.
Impact:
Unscrupulous employers now have another powerful tool to threaten, exploit, and retaliate against immigrant workers, which drives down job quality for workers across the economy. An employer could, for example, make false charges of theft by a worker and if local officials arrest or charge that individual, ICE would be required to place them in immigration detention. Even the threat of such action will give employers tremendous leverage to intimidate their workers and subject them to abusive conditions like unsafe workplaces or wage theft.
Trump Admin Increases Pressure On Federal Workers To Resign
Trump Administration Sends OPM email to federal workers urging them to resign but labor groups urge caution.
Impact:
The Trump Administration is using pressure tactics like this email to achieve their stated goal of forcing 5%-10% of the federal workforce to quit. The email offers legally dubious terms and borrows language purportedly used by Elon Musk in private sector layoffs. Federal workforce labor groups urge caution and are advising workers against being tricked into resigning, possibly without pay.
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) sends an email to millions of federal employees trying to convince them to resign by February 6th with potentially illegal promises to pay them through September
Eerily reiminiscent of the email Elon Musk sent Twitter employees once he purchased the app, the Trump administration is trying to coerce and scare civil servants into quitting their jobs with not-so-thinly veiled threats that they could be fired soon. Experts in federal employment law and appropriations believe the offer of pay through the end of September 2025 if people resign by February 6th is well beyond the power of the Administration and OPM to offer.
Impact:
The Administration is trying to hollow out the civil service by scaring people into resigning their jobs. This will impede the federal government's ability to enforce laws, deliver important and often life-saving services, and to generally ensure the smooth functioning of the government that supports the entire country.