For more than 60 years, federal law has evolved to better protect working women’s time and pay. But the Trump administration and Congressional Republicans are trying to make it so fewer workers – particularly women workers – are treated like employees and protected under these laws.
This Black History Month, we celebrate the progress achieved for Black communities, including Black women workers. Black women’s labor has historically been undervalued and underpaid. And the fight to ensure our laws protect and promote economic security for Black women workers is a story marked by progress and setbacks.
The 60th anniversary of Executive Order 11246 reminds of the progress it made possible and the urgent need for Congress to restore and strengthen its protections.
For decades, Congress has underfunded the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and workers – especially women workers – have paid the price.
There are smaller, more incremental approaches that Congress should consider that can support individuals who currently lack paid leave, help small businesses afford to provide paid leave, and support state paid leave programs. Incremental approaches to paid leave should also lay the groundwork for and be able to complement an eventual universal, federal paid leave program.
The Trump Labor Department is marking Labor Day this year by advancing more than 60 rollbacks to worker protection rules. And their actions suggest they don’t care what workers think.
This Disability Pride Month, we mark the 35th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. But rather than building on progress made for disabled workers, the Trump Labor Department is actively undermining the workplace protections and supports that millions of workers with disabilities rely on.
For the first time in 20 years, the gender wage gap widened. Rather than focusing on policies that would help narrow the gender wage gap, the Trump Administration cut a ten-year-old protection that helps workers discover pay discrimination.
As more states enact paid family and medical leave, it is important that workers understand their options for making decisions that best support their leave needs. New guidance from the Labor Department clarifies the interaction of FMLA leave, employer-provided leave, and state leave benefits.
