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u s labor department
Biden Labor Department Finalizes Pro-Worker Rules on Overtime, Retirement Savings
"Democrats are delivering for working people!" declared Rep. Pramila Jayapal as the AFL-CIO noted that GOP ex-President Donald Trump "gutted the rules that required overtime pay for millions of workers."
Apr 23, 2024
Roughly 4.3 million U.S. workers will now be eligible for overtime pay under a new rule finalized Tuesday by President Joe Biden's Labor Department—in stark contrast to his Republican predecessor's rules that severely limited the number of workers who were eligible for required compensation when they worked more than 40 hours per week.
Under the new rule, employers will be required to pay overtime premiums to salaried workers who work more than standard full-time hours if they earn less than $1,128 per week, or about $58,600 per year.
Former President Donald Trump, now the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, may now have to defend his 2020 rule that set the overtime pay threshold at just $35,500 per year, leaving out millions of workers.
U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) noted that the updated rule was "a major piece" of the Executive Action Agenda released by the Congressional Progressive Caucus, which she chairs.
"This is a HUGE pro-worker initiative by President Biden," said Jayapal. "Democrats are delivering for working people!"
Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su, who Biden has nominated to fill the role permanently, said it is "unacceptable" that lower-paid workers "are spending more time away from their families for no additional pay," while hourly workers are eligible for overtime pay.
"This rule will restore the promise to workers that if you work more than 40 hours in a week, you should be paid more for that time," said Su. "The Biden-Harris administration is following through on our promise to raise the bar for workers who help lay the foundation for our economic prosperity."
The Labor Department posted a chart on social media showing how under Trump's policy, only workers who earn less than $688 per week are eligible for required overtime pay. The full rule is set to go into effect in January 2025.
The chart offers a "good split screen with the GOP," saidSlate reporter Mark Joseph Stern.
"It isn't just that Trump's Department of Labor fought overtime pay—it's also that Trump appointed anti-labor judges who are about to block Biden's new rule," he said.
The former Republican president's appointed judges could also block a new Federal Trade Commission rule introduced on Tuesday, which blocks companies from including noncompete clauses in workers' contracts.
"Both reforms happened because of Biden and in spite of Republicans," said HuffPost labor reporter Dave Jamieson.
Along with the overtime rule, the Labor Department announced a new policy aimed at safeguarding people's retirement savings from their financial advisers' conflicts of interest.
The finalized retirement security rule requires "trusted investment advice providers to give prudent, loyal, honest advice free from overcharges," said the department. "These fiduciaries must adhere to high standards of care and loyalty when they recommend investments and avoid recommendations that favor the investment advice providers' interests—financial or otherwise—at the retirement savers' expense."
"Under the final rule and amended exemptions, financial institutions overseeing investment advice providers must have policies and procedures to manage conflicts of interest and ensure providers follow these guidelines," the agency said.
Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, said the nation's largest labor federation has "been pushing for the fiduciary and overtime rules since the Obama administration."
"It's really this simple," said Shuler. "Every worker deserves their fair share of the wealth they help create and every worker deserves to make sure their hard-earned money is secure."
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House Dems Urge Biden Administration to Rid Hyundai Supply Chain of Child Labor
The call from congressional lawmakers comes amid a surge in child labor violations—and as Republican state lawmakers seek to roll back over a century of child labor protections.
Feb 11, 2023
A group of 33 Democratic lawmakers on Friday implored the U.S. Labor Department "to take immediate action to rid Hyundai's supply chain of child labor and hold those responsible to the fullest extent of the law" after a Reuters investigation revealed that dozens of kids as young as 12 years old—most of them Central American migrants—were working in Southeastern factories supplying the Korean auto giant.
Last July, Reuters began investigating allegations of children working on the factory floor at Hyundai subsidiary SMART Alabama LLC's metal stamping plant in Luverne after a 13-year-old Guatemalan girl who worked there temporarily went missing. Reporters Joshua Schneyer, Mica Rosenberg, and Kristina Cooke reported that children, the youngest of whom were 12 years old, worked at the plant, which supplies parts for vehicles manufactured at Hyundai's flagship U.S. factory in Montgomery.
Reuters subsequently found dozens of children working in at least four major suppliers to Kia and Hyundai—its parent company—in Alabama and Georgia. After a Labor Department probe found that one of the suppliers, SL Alabama LLC, violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by engaging in "oppressive child labor," the agency obtained a federal court order to stop the firm from illegally employing 13-, 14,- and 15-year-old workers.
"Clearly, there is a systemic effort within the Hyundai supply chain to recruit child labor from abroad, undermining workers in other parts of the U.S. auto industry."
"New reports allege additional automotive parts suppliers for Hyundai, mainly in Alabama, are also suspected of child labor violations," the 33 congressional Democrats wrote in a letter to U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh led by Rep. Daniel Kildee (D-Mich.) decrying the "abhorrent" crimes.
"Many of these children are immigrants recruited from Central America, working under fake names in dangerous conditions in manufacturing plants, some driving forklifts and operating welding equipment, and receiving serious workplace injuries," the lawmakers wrote.
The letter continued:
According to reports, children are actively recruited from Central America and employed through third-party staffing agencies in an attempt to cover up these disturbing activities [and] when adult workers in the plants tried to raise concerns about children working there, they were ignored. This is shocking, disturbing, and has no place in the U.S.
Earlier this year, Hyundai publicly committed to severing ties with its suppliers in its U.S. supply chain that were found to use child labor. We are concerned that Hyundai, at DOL's suggestion, reversed course on this commitment and will not cut ties with its Alabama suppliers that use child labor. Clearly, there is a systemic effort within the Hyundai supply chain to recruit child labor from abroad, undermining workers in other parts of the U.S. auto industry. And it must be addressed immediately.
Hyundai said in a statement that the company "agrees that child labor is entirely unacceptable," but that it was "disappointed" the lawmakers' letter did not mention the "comprehensive actions we have taken in collaboration with the Department of Labor to address the allegations of underage workers at certain suppliers."
Rep. Terri Sewell (D-Ala), who did not sign the letter, toldReuters earlier this week that she has repeatedly discussed the child labor issue with Hyundai officials, and that she has "made clear that the use of child labor is abhorrent and unacceptable, and that there must be accountability."
Last year, attorneys representing Lea Reis, a California woman, filed a class-action lawsuit against Hyundai on behalf of Hyundai owners and lessees "seeking to stop and prevent" the company's "illegal use of child labor."
SMART Alabama LLC is also the target of a class-action lawsuit alleging the company "cheated the United States immigration system" to employ adult Mexican immigrants, who worked "horrendously long hours" for a fraction of the pay of U.S. workers.
The lawmakers' letter comes as Republican-led state legislatures work to roll back child labor protections, even as the Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division reported a 37% surge in child labor violations in 2022. These included 688 minors found to be working in hazardous occupations.
"It's just crazy to me that we are re-litigating a lot of things that seem to have been settled 100, 120, or 140 years ago."
In addition to Hyundai and Kia, child labor violations have recently been exposed at major companies in the U.S. including Brazilian meatpacking giant JBS, Chipotle, Dunkin' Donuts, and McDonalds, as well as at a host of smaller businesses.
Yet, in Iowa—to name but one example—Republican state lawmakers want to change child labor laws so teens as young as 14 could work in previously prohibited and dangerous jobs including mining, logging, and animal slaughtering.
"It's just crazy to me that we are re-litigating a lot of things that seem to have been settled 100, 120, or 140 years ago," Charlie Wishman, president of the Iowa AFL-CIO—which opposes the GOP bill—toldThe Guardian.
"All of these protections have been put in place for a reason," Wishman added. "Child labor law is there to make sure that kids are working in age-appropriate work activities or occupations that are appropriate for their age. We think this is a rewrite of our child labor laws in Iowa that [is] going way, way, way too far and has the potential to put kids in dangerous situations."
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Critics Decry Pelosi Push for 'Corporate Hack' Sean Patrick Maloney to Be Labor Secretary
"I would really appreciate it if Sean Patrick Maloney could NOT fail upwards into a cabinet position and if we could get a secretary of labor who is actually unabashedly pro-labor," one opponent said.
Feb 09, 2023
Progressives pushed back strongly Thursday to reports that Nancy Pelosi is lobbying the Biden administration to nominate former congressman Sean Patrick Maloney for U.S. labor secretary, with one critic accusing the former House speaker of "doing a last bit of Silicon Valley donor service" for someone who "has no real relationship with labor."
According toNBC News, Pelosi (D-Calif.) has been making calls on behalf of Maloney urging the White House and union leaders to back the former five-term corporate Democrat for labor chief. Current Labor Secretary Marty Walsh is expected to resign in the near future so he can take a job heading the National Hockey League Players Association, although the White House has not yet confirmed his departure.
While Deputy Labor Secretary Julie Su, a progressive who formerly headed California's labor agency, is believed to be the favorite to replace Walsh, Pelosi's push for Maloney—an adept fundraiser who led the Democrats' campaign arm in the House and was a member of the corporate-friendly New Democrat Coalition—is a cause for concern and consternation among worker advocates.
Opponents of Maloney's nomination noted he's a corporate-friendly centrist who not only lost his midterm reelection bid in "humiliating" fashion but, as ex-chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, was widely blamed for his party's failure to hold control of the House.
\u201cMaloney has no real relationship with labor. He ran arguably the worst congressional race in the country. He's, ahem, not rumored to be a very nice boss, nor is he liked by colleagues. Pelosi is doing a last bit of Silicon Valley donor service here. https://t.co/6puL0aBj1m\u201d— Alex Sammon (@Alex Sammon) 1675962392
"Make no mistake, Maloney is a corporate hack: he was a member of the New Democrat Coalition, the caucus of Congressional Democrats that exists to do the bidding of giant companies under a pretense of being 'moderate,'" Max Moran, the personnel team research director at the Revolving Door Project, said in a statement Thursday. "Nothing in his record indicates any unique relationship with labor, but he has quite strong relationships with the CEOs and executives who often try to undermine labor."
"There's no reason for Maloney to wield power or influence over federal politics for the foreseeable future, and certainly no reason to promote him to labor secretary," Moran argued.
Two words dominated the social media conversation surrounding Maloney's prospective nomination: failing upwards.
\u201cI would really appreciate it if Sean Patrick Maloney could NOT fail upwards into a cabinet position and if we could get a Secretary of Labor who is actually unabashedly pro-labor? that would be great.\u201d— \ud83d\udd77Dante Atkins\ud83d\udd77 (@\ud83d\udd77Dante Atkins\ud83d\udd77) 1675960259
"If your boss gave you an important assignment that you failed to accomplish, and it made your boss' job immensely harder, would you expect a promotion?" Moran asked rhetorically.
As Moran explained:
As the leader of House Democrats' campaign arm in 2022, Sean Patrick Maloney failed to hold the Democratic majority. He is the first Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chair to lose his own race in 40 years. Some of his biggest failures were in his home state of deep-blue New York! This was the guy who was supposed to keep Rep. George Santos [R-N.Y.] from winning! His failure has all but demolished any hopes of major new legislation for the remainder of this Presidential term.
He wasn't trying especially hard at this crucial job: Maloney spent part of October partying with European millionaires under the auspices of fundraising, instead of pumping money into battleground races and campaigning. Imagine promoting a DCCC chair who didn't even campaign in his own district, let alone for his colleagues. Imagine promoting a politician who wasn't even in the country in the home stretch of an election!
"If after his excellent, blue-collar State of the Union, President [Joe] Biden lets a corporate hack fail upwards into the Labor Department, it would send a message to the public to believe exactly none of what he said," Moran added.
\u201cThe union that spent biggest for Sean Patrick Maloney this past cycle? The NYC police union.\n\nHard pass.\u201d— Jordan Zakarin (@Jordan Zakarin) 1675959100
On Wednesday, the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus endorsed Su for labor secretary, noting there are no Asian American, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander cabinet secretaries in the Biden administration.
"Deputy Secretary Su has dedicated her career to the promotion of workers' rights and fair labor practices and to advancing equity and opportunities for all workers, including ones from historically underserved communities," the caucus said in a statement." She would be a stellar, exceptionally qualified candidate to be secretary of labor and would deliver results for American workers and the Biden-Harris administration immediately upon her confirmation."
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