Posts tagged DOL
Editorial Board: The federal government’s most efficient use of $600 ever?
May 15, 2026 // As part of the Trump administration’s effort to modernize government websites, OLMS has added a new “Visualization” column. All the reports are available the same as before, but now some also have a more user-friendly version. The data are searchable and sortable, and users can view multiyear comparisons, with charts, at a glance. This fix has made it much easier to see, for example, that the Amalgamated Transit Union has 18 vice presidents, and they all make more than $215,000 a year.
The Department of Labor is right to make union spending transparent
May 11, 2026 // The form includes spending, assets and major receipts, to ensure union members are informed about their union’s financial condition. LM-2s also disclose relationships with affiliated groups, including political action committees, advocacy groups and other organizations that engage in electoral or issue-based campaigns. Given the amount unions spend on political activities, reporting and transparency are increasingly important. For example, in 2023 the Service Employees International Union spent 17 percent of its budget on political activities and lobbying and 16 percent on benefits and union administration. In other words, a labor union with more than 2 million members, spent nearly as much on partisan political activities as it did on protecting workers.
100 State Leaders Urge Washington to Protect Independent Work
May 8, 2026 // That is why State Policy Network’s Center for Practical Federalism helped organize a coalition of 100 state leaders from 25 states in support of the US Department of Labor’s proposed rule clarifying independent contractor status under federal law. The coalition includes four statewide officials and 96 state legislators. The proposed rule would rescind the Biden administration’s 2024 independent contractor rule and replace it with a clearer standard for determining when a worker is an employee and when a worker may be classified as an independent contractor under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act.
Op-ed: Unions are acting as a toll booth on the road to unaccountable single-party power
May 8, 2026 // Unions do not write personal checks. They collect dues from membership — teachers, construction workers, public employees — then steer voluntary PAC contributions through ActBlue, the Democrats’ preferred fundraising apparatus. The tilt is so extreme it would embarrass a slot machine. The National Education Association’s PAC raised nearly $27 million in the 2024 election cycle, virtually every dollar aimed at electing Democrats. The four largest government unions — the NEA, the American Federation of Teachers, AFSCME, and the Service Employees International Union — spent more than $700 million on election-related activity in the 2021–22 cycle alone, with 96 percent flowing to Democratic candidates and organizations. That is not grassroots democracy — it is a toll booth on the road to single-party rule.
Racketeering trial starts for former KC-based union leaders accused of $20M theft
May 4, 2026 // “What makes this trial so significant is that it is not only about the individuals who were indicted,” he said. “It is also about the system and the culture that allowed this to ever happen. “Newton Jones and what federal prosecutors have described as the ‘Jones Enterprise’ would not have been able to allegedly racketeer, embezzle, or misuse union resources if the people sworn to uphold their constitutional duties had taken that oath seriously.” The Boilermakers deserve better, Sulivan said. “This trial should be a turning point, not just for accountability for the past, but for rebuilding and restructuring our organization for the future,” he said.
Acting Labor Sec. Sonderling likely to move up to top job
April 28, 2026 // Sonderling, 43, is a veteran of Trump's first administration, in which he served as acting administrator of the Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division and later as a member of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The West Palm Beach attorney and grandchild of Holocaust survivors has been widely considered a voice for conservatives within the Labor Department. This contrasts with Chavez-DeRemer, who was appointed largely due to support from Teamsters union President Sean O'Brien and drew criticism on the right for her past opposition to right-to-work laws.
Trump Labor Department proposes rule redefining workplace violations for franchises
April 23, 2026 // The proposed rule sets four standards for use in every case of potential vertical joint employment: (1) whether the potential joint employer hires or fires the employee in question, (2) whether it supervises or controls the employee’s work schedule or conditions of employment to a “substantial degree,” (3) whether it controls the employee’s rate and method of pay, and (4) if it maintains the worker’s employment records. Wage and Hour Division Administrator Andrew Rogers said that the proposal would “deliver much-needed regulatory clarity in the face of divergent judicial precedent throughout federal courts of appeals.”
Freelance Busting: The ABC Test Defense
April 22, 2026 // And perhaps most important, according to all of the oral testimony and thousands of written public comments submitted to New Jersey’s Labor Department, there are zero people being unknowingly classified as independent contractors. You can download and read here the eight (yes, only eight out of about 9,500) public comments that individuals supporting the proposed rule change filed. Not a single one of them says the person was unknowingly working as an independent contractor.
LLINOIS: 15,600 IFT members don’t exist, according to a union filing
April 16, 2026 // In a required annual report, the union’s own words reveal that: It has 15,600 fewer members than it claims on its website. Less than 28% of its spending is on representing teachers — what should be its main focus. The union spent over $1 million on politics in 2025. Nearly half of the IFT’s officers and employees made over $100,000 last year.
Op-ed: Congressional Republicans Should Unshackle Entrepreneurs
April 16, 2026 // Efforts to restore clearer regulations around contractor standards recognize these realities. However, a future administration can scuttle any regulation its Labor Department issues. Legislative clarity solves that problem, and Congress has a vehicle to provide it. The Modern Worker Empowerment Act clarifies standards for independent work, protecting legitimate independent businesses while preserving safeguards against worker misclassification. A law, duly passed and signed, means real, future-proofed certainty for entrepreneurs, freelancers and the organizations that rely on them.