What should employers know about Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Trump’s pick to run the DOL?

If you had your money on President-Elect Trump selecting a pro-labor Republican with support from several unions to run the U.S. Department of Labor, you and I should go to Vegas together so I can ride your coattails.

On Friday, President-elect Donald Trump tapped Oregon Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer to serve as Secretary of Labor. Ms. Chavez-DeRemer lost her bid for reelection in the November elections. The Senate must still confirm Ms. Chavez-DeRemer before she can assume this new role in the Department of Labor.

According to the Associated Press, Ms. Chavez-DeRemer was “an enthusiastic back” of the Protecting the Right to Organize Act (the PRO Act). Here is a three-page fact sheet. Put simply, the law would make it easier for employees to form a union, and here are ten reasons why. Twice, the legislation passed the House only to stall out in the Senate.

TheHill.com notes that Ms. Chavez-DeRemer co-sponsored the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act, a bill that would expand the powers of public sector unions, and another measure that would shield workers in the public sector from having their Social Security benefits reduced.

Ms. Chavez-DeRemer’s nomination pleased Sean O’Brien, the head of the Teamsters Union. AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler released a statement highlighting the nominee’s “pro-labor record in Congress” but cautioned that “it remains to be seen what she will be permitted to do as Secretary of Labor in an administration with a dramatically anti-worker agenda,” Ms. Shuler warned that Project 2025  contains “proposals that would strip overtime pay, eliminate the right to organize, and weaken health and safety standards.”

National Education Association President Becky Pringle released a statement with similar sentiments, namely praising Ms. Chavez-DeRemer’s pro-labor record but bashing “Donald Trump’s anti-worker, anti-union record, and his extreme Project 2025 agenda that would gut workplace protections, make it harder for workers to unionize, and diminish the voice of working people.” She hopes to “hear a pledge from [Ms. Chavez-DeRemer] to continue to stand up for workers and students as her record suggests.”

Meanwhile, a labor expert for the conservative group told the NY Post that this nomination sends the message that the “Trump administration is not serious about deregulation or economic growth.”

Typically, Republican nominees to the DOL are not employee-friendly. During President Trump’s last term, the Department of Labor made it harder to establish joint-employer liability and created a test to seemingly make it easier to classify workers as independent contractors. The DOL also favored opinion letters to help employers with thorny wage and hour issues over litigation to punish violators.

If the Senate confirms Ms. Chavez-DeRemer, businesses should stay adaptable, watch for new regulations/guidance, and keep the HR team caffeinated.