4 employment actions to expect under Trump’s second presidency

The last decade has reshaped American life and culture with a global pandemic, shifting identity concerns, and changing work arrangements; They all brought a new look to work and life. With President-elect Donald Trump back in the White House and immigration issues at the forefront of the national consciousness, late 2024 feels like late 2016 in many ways.

Jorge Lopez, a Littler Mendelson shareholder and head of the law firm’s immigration and global mobility department, told pre-election attendees: “Under the Trump administration (…) We expect an almost immediate border closure,” Littler hosted an Oct. 30 webinar. He said an immediate, stricter approach to immigration would likely impact sectors such as construction, hospitality and manufacturing.

Lopez — with Littler shareholder Jim Paretti and Littler’s co-chairman Michael Lotito, former senior counsel to the acting chairman of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Workplace Policy Instituteand Shannon Meade, executive director of the Workplace Policy Institute, shared a number of other predictions about how President-elect Trump might act on employment issues in his first days in office.

1. Raids on immigration operations will be on the table again.

Meade said immigration reform will be “a priority.”

Lopez said Trump’s second term on the job floor will likely turn into “supply-side enforcement” of immigration law; This means raids where government officials arrive at a construction site with the intention of carrying out an attack. arrest of undocumented workersWill probably be used again. Unlike the Biden administration, Lopez said, it uses “demand-side enforcement” that focuses on “whether an employer is intentionally or unintentionally hiring undocumented workers.”

He said there will also likely be a sharp increase in I-9 inspections on the immigration front. Lopez noted that there were roughly 12,000 I-9 checks in Trump’s last year in office, while the number was about 400 in Biden’s last year.

2. Agency heads will be changed.

Paretti noted that the White House has limited control over the agencies, and that commissioners and board members are protected by litigation. However, President Trump will be able to change the seat; This is an action he will probably take immediately.

“Obviously, on day one, the Trump administration will appoint a new chairman of the National Labor Relations Board, and that will almost certainly be Marvin Kaplan, because he will be the only Republican member serving,” Paretti said. “Similarly, at the EEOC, they appointed Commissioner Andrea Lucas, who is probably the only Republican Commissioner currently serving at the agency.”

While leadership will likely change hands across the various agencies, these chairmen may still find minority members on their commissions, as on the NLRB and EEOC.

3. Regulatory activities will slow down significantly.

Between the new overtime rule, the non-compete rule, and the independent contractor rule—to name a few—employers faced a flurry of activity at the NLRB, EEOC, and U.S. Department of Labor last year. During Not all proposed rules were successful In the courts, institutions continued to overcome difficulties in some cases and court decisions.

“I think the first thing the Trump administration will do is reject the challenge and withdraw the challenge,” Paretti said of the pending challenges. “We’ve seen this happen in other transitions as well — specifically, and this is why I think it should be for the record, two key Biden regulations, both on white-collar overtime and independent contractor status, sought to repeal and replace rules that the Trump administration had issued itself.”

Paretti, particularly under the direction of EEOC Chairman Lucas, less popular Pregnant Workers Fairness Act regulations could potentially be rolled back. “He was not silent about his dissatisfaction or concern with the final regulations the EEOC issued,” he said.

4. Limitations may be placed on DEI.

Paretti said DEI is an area that will see major change in Trump’s second term.

“(We first) saw an executive order during the Trump administration that sought to ban or limit certain concepts in diversity and inclusion training. (…) It was repealed by the Biden administration. “This administrative decision could have been appealed in court,” he said. “But in the intervening years, I can definitely say that there has been no decrease in interest here on the Republican side. Some more drumming.