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Trump Admin's Rollback of Worker Protection Rules is Under Investigation
While Trump and the Republican Party intentionally inflict direct harm on Americans workers, our environment, our economy, our schools, our healthcare, our future..... fortunately they often do things wrong and the courts can and have stepped in. Perhaps another example here to help save workers until Democrats take over and restore some normalcy.
The federal watchdog for the Department of Labor is conducting a broad investigation into the Trump administration's process for making regulatory changes, following allegations that officials are undoing worker protections without following the proper procedures....
The investigation will include the Labor Department’s effort to undo a child labor regulation affecting teenagers who work in hospitals and nursing homes....incorporating its investigation of the child-labor rollback into “a broader review of the rule-making process at DOL....
"This is not a one-off situation — this is how they are conducting rollbacks of really important worker protections, and doing it with misleading information at best," said Berkowitz, a former Labor Department official under President Obama. "There’s clearly a pattern of the Department of Labor hiding information that is inconvenient and does not support the department’s position, in violation of well-known and established laws."
We aren't sure who the Stephen Miller of the Labor Department is, but surely there appears to be evil occuring here to harm tens of millions of our people, normal folks doing normal work, in favor of massive corporations who would benefit.
[Department of Labor inspector general, Scott] Dahl is already investigating the Labor Department's handling of a proposal to allow restaurant managers and owners to take workers’ tips and place them in a tip-sharing pool that includes bosses.... the administration hid its own projection that the change would allow management to skim $640 million in gratuities.
Labor Department is facing legal challenges over other deregulatory actions affecting workers.
Last week, the department undid an Obama-era regulationrequiring certain employers to submit detailed reports of workplace injuries electronically.... Last year, the department made it easier for small businesses and self-employed people to buy health insurance that does not comply with the Affordable Care Act. Both changes have spurred lawsuits alleging that officials failed to follow legally required procedures for rule-making.
"Inspector General Dahl’s response is a welcome step toward ensuring that the Department of Labor is truly acting in the interests of young workers in hospitals and nursing homes,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. “This is not the first time in recent memory that the department has tried to roll back workers’ rights on the basis of questionable or hidden evidence, so I am glad that the inspector general is taking a broad look at the department’s rule-making processes as well."