Secured in part based on pledges to improve the perceived economic fortunes of the U.S. workers, the election of Donald Trump as the 47th President promises to unsettle substantive federal labor and employment laws and regulations, on one hand, and to challenge the agencies charged with enforcing them, on another. In addition to foreseeable high-level agency personnel changes and possible efforts to reduce the size of the federal civil service in general, changes could be expected in federal wage and hour law, EEO enforcement, federal safety regulations, labor law, noncompetition law, immigration, and the federal government's approach to the regulation of artificial intelligence (AI) in the workplace. While some of these policies seem likely to be met with some resistance from impacted parties such as labor unions, others could lead to unintended consequences vis-à-vis the demand for certain goods and services, labor market supply, and the bargaining power of certain workers.
This Vital Briefing discusses what could be on the horizon from a labor and employment standpoint during the next administration.
